Clue #3 - Pink Grapefruit Quilt

Here are my cute little half split 4 patches. Three of them anyway, actually four, but you can't see the fourth one. I have cut them all out, but I have decided not to sew them together until I see what other people have done, or hear of any problems. Maybe I'll just sew one set of mirror image ones, but since I do have other stuff to do, I can wait. Bonnie won't be back for a while and I think she said that the clues will be about two weeks apart, which is good. I just dislike unsewing. That's it for now. Keep the piece.

Quilt University

Oh, I almost forgot. I signed up for a Dear Baby Jane Crazy Nut or something like that class on Quilt U. It starts at the end of May and I'm hoping to learn how to do those scary applique blocks cause I would really like to do the WHOLE quilt, with all the 242 or how very many blocks were used in the original. I have one block done, lol. My next purchase for this computer will be an all in one printer, scan, fax, copy and print. I have to ask my DSIL which one he thinks is the best. I consider him my computer maven. Okay, that's it for now. Was looking for Amanda but I have lost patience with the surfing the ring and have decided to go back to sewing my Radiant QOV Mystery Quilt. Keep the piece.

Was gonna upload photo, but...

I was gonna upload a photo of my latest FINISHED quilt, but I have entered it into a contest on one of my groups, so I won't even describe it so that no one will know that its from me. I am in the process of sewing together the Radiant quilt from the QOV mystery group. I would really like to finish this one as the next one is starting next week. That's what I have so far, up there. Two rows together and two rows yet to go. I'm going back in to finish before the Yankee game starts. Keep the piece.

Picked It UP

Okay, so I have been very busy cooking and cleaning and not sewing. I made 6 loaves of mandelbread, 6 loaves of mock kishka, one pound of chopped liver, 4 jars of gefilte fish, and 3 cups of matzo balls. Oh, and I also made a roast beef and some candied yams. I am so full, I don't think I want to eat for a while, lol. That was Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Monday I finally went up to Boynton Beach and picked up my Bernina. That's it up there. While I was up North, I went to a new quilt shop, My Quilt Shoppe. Very lovely store and very nice women running it. They were so helpful with me. I wound up buying some more fabric, what else is new.

Today I took my friend to the airport. She is flying back to Staten Island. I will miss her. I also went to the Post Office and finally mailed out my entrance fee into the Stash Quilt Challenge. I need to go back to the PO tomorrow because I have a package for Bonnie.

I also was able to finish my clue #2 for my Pink Grapefruit Crush quilt. Photo under the Bernina. Now we wait for the next clue. Can't wait. In the meantime, I am going to finish the 30 snowball blocks for a friendship quilt through Eons, I have 5 done. And I am going to do Tanya's alphabet from Bonnie's Quiltville site. I bought an Alphabet Soup Quilt pattern, but it was with pastel fabrics. Since I don't know what the sex of the baby is, don't know if there is a baby yet either, I have decided to do the quilt in black and white. So my letters are going to be black with white dots, stars, etc. and the background is going to be white. I've pieced the letter "T" and when I finish the rest of the snowball blocks, I will finish these blocks. And I have also signed up to take two quilts courses. One of them is the classes that you get to take when you buy the Bernina and the other is a class on machine quilting without the Bernina's BSR. I haven't taken the Bernina out of the case yet, I don't want to play until I know how to.

I just put a load of clothes into the washer, and I am going to bed in a few. Have a good evening and keep the piece.

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Candace to give you 7 Random or Weird facts about me

Here are the RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you
2. Post the RULES on your blog
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged

Here are 7 Weird or Random Facts About Me:

1. My Great Grandmother, My Father and I all share the same birthday. Can you guess? 9/29

2. I have one terrific child, daughter Allyson (they broke the mold when they made her). She married last May and now they are trying to have a baby. So I might become a Grandma soon.

3. I'm a New York Sports Fan (Yankees, Mets, Islanders, Jets, Giants). I will never, ever root for the Dolphins.

4. I love KOALAS. I have a collection of stuffed Koalas that number in the 100's. I have crystal ones too.

5. I buy way too much fabric. I went to the quilt store today and I bought four fabrics off the bolt and all the rest was little bit left. Before I knew it, it was $300 later. But I got some great fabric.

6. I would love to go back to school and become an attorney. I graduated in 1997 with an Associates Degree and I'm still waiting for my diploma. For some reason, here in Florida, you need the diploma to get into the State colleges. So I have been calling my alma mater for the past three years trying to get it. I will call one more time and then I call an attorney (Allyson works for one).

7. I miss my husband. He passed away in 1992 at the age of 43 and I just miss him.

http://wraggedypatches.blogspot.com/

That's the link back to Candace. Now I have to find 7 people to tag. Watch out girls, here I come. Ollie Ollie Oxen Free.

So far I have tagged:

Jay - http://quiltygirl.blogspot.com
Julie - http://golbseiluj.blogspot.com
Jeanne - http://luv2stitch.blogspot.com - lucky girl is going to Paducah
Tracey - http://quiltinginct.blogspot.com
Ursula - http://love4meninuniform.blogspot.com

I've tagged one other person who has decided not to play which is absolutely okay. I have decided not to tag anyone else. I have also decided that this is the first and last time that I partake in the fun. I put aside a few minutes in the morning and a few at night to do the blog thing and I don't know enough people well enough to "tag" them. There's just not enough time in the day for me to do this blog thing and do the piecing, which I like to do more. I am now going back to sewing up those clue 2 pesky little triangle four squares for the Pink Grapefruit Crush. Keep the piece.

Another Bonnie Thought

Geez, after all the past bruhaha, maybe Bonnie shouldn't put up on her site all that stuff about the recycling. With self publishing, someone could just change a word or two and make the idea their own. Just a thought. Keep the piece.

Organization Continued

Ithought that maybe you all were ready to see how I've progressed in this "Scrap User's System". Here are some pictures to show how I'm getting along. I've already cut up the black/white, yellow, some red. All the orange scraps I stuck in a plastic bag and put it with my Pink Grapefruit Crush fabrics. And I am sitting here very impatiently waiting for the next clue.

So while I am tapping my foot with my hand on my hip, I will continue to cut up the strips and put them in my strip piles. As soon as I empty another bin, I can add the strips to the bin. Going to check to see if clue 2 is up yet. Keep the piece.

FINALLY GOT MY BERNINA

Well I did it. I finally got my Bernina. I went into my LQS and asked them what machine I could get with BSR that cost $3500. They told me the Aurora 330, bottom of the rung of Berninas. But I said okay, sign me up and then she told me that they sold a top of the line Bernina last week and the woman was looking to sell her Aurora 330 with BSR and I said OMG, someone is smiling down on me. Janine called Gloria and left a message with my phone numbers and while I was still in the store, Gloria called and she told me the price and I said "SOLD". So Monday I go and pick up my old/new Bernina with BSR (its only one year old). Then in May I can take the classes at the LQS and learn how to use the BSR and then I can QUILT my own quilts. Renée is doing the happy, happy, happy dance. WOOHOO. Keep the piece.

Bonnie

I just read Bonnie's blog. This Donna Slater person is a real winner. If she had just gotten back to Bonnie when Bonnie contacted her, this wouldn't have happened. Now she's on her high horse, thinking she is better than Bonnie and throwing out lawsuits and all that. Well, gee. Who died and made her quilt god? She must be one of the only quilters with this attitude. I've thought that quilters by and large are a very congeniel group, cooperative, friendly etc. I guess that does not apply to her. If you haven't read Bonnie's blog, I think you all should. Take a very good look at the photo's Bonnie has posted. Try to see the differences in the quilts besides the fabric. There really isn't any. And also try to read with the sarcasim inflection. It really works. Bonnie has been up front from the beginning and she puts her patterns out there for all to see, without charge. I guess money is the root of all evil and the prospect of a lot of it makes people evil. Just my two cents. Keep the piece.

Organization Continued

I have downloaded Bonnie's "Scrap User's System" and after reading it have decided that I need to modify. I know that Bonnie said that any strip that is less than 12" she cuts up into squares, but I have so many of them that it would take me from now til never to cut them all up. I have been sewing strips that are as small as 3" to a larger (longer) strip for a very long time and I have not minded. Even though I might only get one subcut from it, it is one subcut that I didn't have before. So, yesterday I finished the yellow bin and now I have started the green bin. As I won't be able to do any more cutting until maybe Friday, I am going to try to get as much done today as I can. I have also decided to keep the neutral/white bin alone. There is way too much fabric strips in there for me to sort through. As I need it I can take it out and do with it what must be done. I will sift through and try to take out the squares and leave the strips in there. I have now taken it upon myself to rename the bins. They are now named as the square size and if I should need squares a particular size, I now can just stick my hand into the bin and grab. Whatever comes out is what I will use. Even though it will take a while to get this done, it will be so much better in the long run. As I get the strips done, I will do the same with them. Anyway, that's it for me for a while, unless I get on here at night. Have a great week and happy clue #2. Keep the piece.

Organization

This getting the scraps organized is taking so long. Didn't realize that I had so much. Now getting it cut down to size is the task. Everything is separated by color. Now I have to cut down to squares, bricks or strips. I have emptied some of the plastic bins that I had the scraps in and made them into bins holding squares. I've decided to cut up the squares first, so I have plastic bins for 1 1/2", 2", 2 1/2", 3 1/2, 4", 4 1/2" and 5" squares. I am doing one color at a time. Hopefully I will have this done before Bonnie posts the last clue for the Orange Crush mystery, lol. Keep the piece.

This is harder than I thought

Organizing scraps is way harder than I thought. Unless I'm just making this neater than it needs to be, it will take me at least another two weeks (one week off for Passover) to get all this done. I've been going through all the bins that I made last week and trying to put together squares and strips in an organized inch basis. So I will eventually end up with a bin of 1 1/2" squares and 1 1/2" strips and on up the ruler. Right now they are mostly in bins assorted by color, which is not bad either, but I hope to have them more organized.

Well, this week I will be going to my sister in laws to help cook for Passover. Hopefully we can have a calm conversation about what happened last week and put an end to this once and for all. Wednesday and Thursday will be spent cooking for the seders and then on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will be cooking for the dinner at our house for the second night. I will be attending the first seder at my SIL and then dinner at our house for the second. Ally and Alex will be going to my brother's house in Brooklyn for the first night, so everyone will be with family.

Anyway, if you should be checking in this week, I'm sorry I won't be here much. Too many other things to do and not enough time. I'm not even sure I will be around to pick up Bonnie's clue #2 for my Pink Grapefruit Crush. Oh well, maybe there will be another two weeks before she posts the third clue. Have a great week everyone. Keep the piece.

Scraps

Last night it was green and blue bins. I straightened out the scraps in the bins, took out the "squares" and am now sorting through the squares. I've narrowed them down to 2", 2 1/2", 3", 3 1/2", 4", 5" and 6". I've spent the morning and afternoon cutting down some of the "squares" into the right sizes. Haven't decided yet if I will cut down the 3" squares into 2 or 2 1/2. Depends on which I need more of in the future. The light colored squares on top are the ones that need cutting down. The squares in the bin are already sorted into sizes and ready to be used. Tonight I will take the neutral/white bin and the yellow/organge bin and sort through those. I will take care of the strips at another time. They are neatly stashed in the bins and I can see them all now. I will certainly have plenty of leader/ enders after I do all this. But at least now I can see what I have and maybe look for a pattern on how to use it. Quiltville here I come. Keep the piece.

Stash Busting

So, I'm reading posts and blogs yesterday and I'm getting some really good ideas. I took my pink and purple bins into the bedroom and picked out the 1 1/2" strips; the 2" strips and some squares of various sizes. Today I went through the black/B&W, gray and brown bins and took out the same sizes of scraps from those bins. I've started to sew together the 2" squares and putting them into a bag so I can pick two out and sew them together. I've already sewed together 140 more 4 patches, some HST's and I'm still going. That leader/ender thing is a blast. I'm using less thread too. I might be able to do something with all these pieces that I'm making with the leader/ender technique. So far they are mostly pink and purple, but that's no problem for me. Most of my fabrics are pink and purple. I'll post some pictures tomorrow as we are watching the Yankee game. Keep the piece.

I Got Bored, So More Four Patches

While watching the Met/Phillies game, I got bored. I was looking at everyone's four patches for the Crush quilt and realized I could use any fabric, as long as it was dark and light. So, since I had a few strips already sewn together, but not cut up, and I had some 2" strips already cut in my scrap bins, I decided to put them together and make some more four patch units. I'm thinking, maybe I could use them for a border, maybe on a children's quilt. Or maybe this Crush quilt. The weather is really crummy out, looks like it is going to rain, and I don't really feel like doing anything. I finally got all my laundry done, folded and everything. The four patches are what I like to call mindless sewing. I can do it and watch the game at the same time. No real concentration, since the seams just butt up against each other nicely, so sewing them together is no problem. LET'S GO METS! LET'S GO METS! LET'S GO METS! Well, this is nice. Now I can go between channels and watch the Mets and Yankees. Whoppee. Going back to watch now, Keep the piece.

Yes, I am a quitter

Okay, I will admit that I am a quitter. I have tried and tried and tried again to get those pesky triangle squares to position the right way. For some reason, the picture of them that I put the colors on is different from the next picture. I cannot get the overall pattern to come out right. My hat is off to all the ladies that are finished with clue 1. I have decided to put this away for now, with a note to check the orientation of the blocks, and I will get to it at another time. I am now going to finish my QOV mystery quilt and then I am going to put together a little quilt for a "friend". Talk about lots of little pieces. Some of them are only 1 1/2" square. Hope my fingers can take it. Off I go to the iron. Keep the piece.

Finished Squares for Clue #1

I finished sewing together the 6 squares for the middle portion of the webequilt mystery #4. I'm too tired to put them all together, especially since it took three tries to get to the 6 blocks. But, here they are. That's a really dark purple, not black. Okay, it's to the bed I go. Until tomorrow and another clue.

Webring

This webring stuff is hard/easy. It's hard if you don't know what the heck you are doing, but easy once you catch on. And it also helps if you have a web mistress like we do in Quiltville, Tracy, who is a genius. Now that I've got that done, I guess I should go back to doing Clue 1 in the other mystery quilt I'm doing. Thanks again Tracy.

Unsewing - Mystery Quilt

Okay, so I had to write down on the instructions which color is which because as careful as I thought I was, I still sewed the half square triangles of medium fabric one and dark fabric 2 onto the flying geese unit the wrong way. The top one is wrong, so I am unsewing all the rest so that I can do this the right way.

Well, for the good news, the Yankees won, but the Mets are losing. Going to go watch the end of the Met game while I unsesw those squares. Keep the piece.

Leaders and Enders

DUH!!!!!!

I have been chain piecing almost as long as I learned to piece on my sewing machine. Okay, its not all that long, but it is at least 5 years. I have read and reread Bonnie K. Hunter's (Quiltville) technique on leaders and enders since this past December. Why is it, that the light just went off in my head to do this? I complain to myself that the fabric keeps getting caught under the needle, or the thread bunches up, whatever, and then the light goes off. I have been trimming flying geese blocks for another mystery quilt that I am doing, and I am saving the triangles that I've cut off. Then I read a post on the Quiltville chat about leaders and enders and I started knocking my head into the monitor. What a freakin' dingbat. Okay, so now I'm going to finish these clues for this mystery and then go through all my bins that I created last weekend and take out all the pieces that could be leaders/enders. I might have myself another whole quilt. Just imagine Renee kicking herself. AAARRRGGGGGHHHH!!

Ponderings

I am having a bit of trouble adding those funny little boxes to my blog. So I have decided to keep it simple. Less clutter. I am going to see if I can get a Yankee, Met and Jet widget though. Haven't figured out how to do that either. I also just found that I set up another blog site. I am going to take that one down though because this one is so much easier and you all know this one and I don't want to confuse anyone with a different site. Okay, haven't done much quilty stuff yet today. I did cut my 3 7/8" square for the webequilt mystery that starts tomorrow. So I have all my pieces cut. Can't wait for it to begin. I have also taken out some 5" squares and some muslin for a friendship block swap on Eons. I guess that shows my age, lol. And I received a packet of fat quarters from another group for posting the 1,000th post. I found a little quilt in a fat quarter book that I am going to make with the fabric that the moderator/founder of the group sent me and then I am going to send it back to her finished. And I also have to put my QOV Radiant quilt blocks together and put the border on. And I have been downloading some BOM's that I found that I might like to make one day. Tomorrow I am going over to PODS and ask them if they can take my POD down so I can get my fabric out (of course I have to find the key for the lock). I have some very, very serious family stuff going on now. It's a real pity to see how families fall apart. Sometimes I am sad that I only had one child and then when things like this happen, I get glad. What a shame to pit one child against another. Anyway, I am hoping that this straightens out sooner rather than later. I don't think my high blood pressure can take it. Going to put Radiant together now and fold up the laundry. I don't mind sorting the dirty clothes into piles to wash. I don't mind putting the piles into the washing machine and adding the detergent and putting the washing machine on. I don't even mind taking the laundry out of the washing machine and putting it into the dryer. What I do mind is folding the laundry when it is done. I have one laundry basket. It is filled with clean clothes because I don't want to fold them up. I'm going in to fold. Wish me luck.

Scrappy vs Controlled

As a sort of newbie piecer (I don't know how to "quilt"), I also was trying for that controlled look. And you know, most of those quilt patterns that we see are created for a line of fabric from some fabric line or another. When I started to piece, I joined Keepsake Quilting's Fabric Club and received a set of coordinated fat quarters every month. I created quite a stash with these fabrics (most of it is in storage in eight boxes). Unfortunately, you couldn't make a whole quilt out of those fat quarters, then, you probably can now. Anyway, I always wondered what the heck I was going to do with all those fat quarters and then I discovered Bonnie's site. Her site is the greatest thing to happen to someone who has "stash" but hardly any yardage. What a great way to mix up the fabric. And if you look at some quilts, there are dots next to stripes and florals next to plaids, anything goes. The thing that I have trouble with is deciding what is a medium. I seem to have collected mostly lights, pastels or very darks, not quite that much in between. I am doing another mystery quilt on webequilts and I need yardage for that. I have gone into my stash of backing fabric, the only fabric that I have yardage, and I still don't have enough medium of one color. So I've mixed up a few pinks and we shall see how this turns out. I am not going to fret, because as someone said, I can always donate it. Those are the fabrics up there, I still haven't figured out how to get the photos to be where I want them. Anyway, pink and purple are my two most favorite colors and whatever happens with this quilt, I know that I will like it and put it on my bed. And making it with all the other mystery piecers out there will be fun. I think the most fun is being with all the other quilters as we put these mysteries together. And I like to see if anyone else has done the same thing as I have. That's why I have decided to read the directions very, very carefully, at least twice and do exactly what it says. No shortcuts for me anymore, especially now that Bonnie has given me the confidence to work with triangles. I even bought two new triangle rulers. LOL. Anyway, I must go and cut up the last of the fabric for the second mystery quilt, as this will start on Saturday. Keep the piece.

Opening Day

Yes, I went to the game with the kids. My nephew was sick, so he couldn't go, but we took his daughter, that's her with my daughter Allyson. The METS WON!!!! It was a good day all around.
The Yankees were rained out so we watched their opening day last night. They won too. Lots of baseball. Ally and Alex bought my Dad the MLB season on Directv, so we get to see ALL the games for ALL the teams. Exciting.

Unfortunately, I haven't quite figured out how to format the pictures on the blog. I guess I need to e mail the blog mistriss for my group and ask her. Anyway, those two pictures on top are the photos of my 4 patches for my Pink Grapefruit Crush quilt for Quiltville. This is the first step of the new mystery. I am now going to cut up the fabric for the mystery quilt I am doing on webequilts. Keep the piece.