My Intuition is not working right now

Now to make this section squared off I am adding one more piece and then I think I am finished. I need to make this one fit in on the angle with the top piece. So that means more grabbing and sewing. There, got it now to see what size it needs to be

Boo Hiss!! It is way too long and I don't think it is square at all. I thought I squared it up correctly. Maybe the other side isn't square? That is a possibility. However, here is the question of the day: "Do I want to add more to the right hand side or do I just cut off the majority of the bottom of the left side?" Another question is: "Is this the same size as the top part or do I need to take a bit off the side? If I take some off the side, then which side do I take it from? Do I just need to add some to the top if this is too big?"

HEADACHE!!! I have looked at it, added a pink strip between the two sections since I think one of them is not exactly square and I have measured the top part. It is smaller than this bottom part. The good thing is that I didn't put a black/white strip on the right hand side of the top part and can add on there if I want. The bad news is, that I am not going to get this done this weekend since it is wider than it is long and I will definitely have to add some to the bottom right side to get it at least as long as it is wide, if not longer. So, back to the sewing machine.

In the meantime, while I was contemplating this quilt, I made a few blocks for the dot, stripe, plaid request from Victoria. Here are a couple of the blocks I will be sending on to her for the donation quilt. Wait, those aren't correct. I have since slashed across the larger one, it was looking like two halves just sewn together, and added in a different corner piece. I have also made another block this morning as a delaying tactic to working on the Intuition quilt.

Last section

I just posted over at 15 minutes play about the latest section of my intuition quilt. Go over there and enjoy what I have to say about it. I would have had the pics up and blogged about last night, but the camera and my computer would not get along! Sometimes they can be soooo very persnickety.

The 4th Quadrant

I think I am going to combine the 3rd and 4th quadrant into one large section OR I may call this one the third quadrant and make the 4th quadrant a bit smaller in width. Anyway, here is what is on my design wall as of 10:15 Monday night. A little late, but better late than not at all. If you want more Design Wall Monday postings go to Judy's blog here. If you want more information about this quilt then stay with me a little bit longer. This section is part of the bottom half of my intuition quilt with 15 minutes of play blog. I should have been taking pictures of this as I worked on each part of this section, but my camera was in the other room and I would put it up on the wall, then make a decision, take it down and sew it, put it up, etc., etc. All while watching tonight's Castle (can I just say, Nathan Fillion, yum!) So, I spent a bit more than the "15 minutes", but I got this entire section put together and am pleased with the results. Now, to measure the top half and see how much more I need to go to get this whole top put together. However, now it is past my bedtime and I must get off here and go to sleep. More on this later.

February's Le Petite Challenge

This is my version of the newest Le Petite challenge, "Sweet Spot." I know, it's early. I know, I can't believe it either. Last month's challenge I finished late on the 31st. This month, it is the 12th and I am already done. What the heck? Here's the deal. I haven't worked on any other quilting project since I began pulling fabrics and cutting on the 5th and every time I made it up to the studio to sew, I worked on this quilt. Nothing else. No Intuition quilt, no blocks for others, nothing. Now, I don't want you to think that I have eaten, slept and breathed this top, because, that is not the case, but I was totally focused - in the studio - on getting this one done before the deadline. I might even have it quilted - hahaha - okay, now I am lying to myself about that - I should say that I would like to have it quilted and bound before the end of the month, but I would also like to finish up the intuition quilt and move on to the monochromatic challenge. Oh, yes, there is also a little thing called retreat and working on my newest quilt pattern. and, and, and . . . Anyway, back to this quilt. When the newest le petite pattern was posted on Pink Pincushion, I really liked it. I knew I wanted to do something modern, but also a little different from the pattern. I pulled out some Kona gray and 9 fabrics that have a more modern feel to them. I drew out the pattern on a graphing index card, figured out what size I wanted the blocks to be and started in almost immediately. I made one block to test out my plan and then it was off to the races. For some reason, I ended up with 10 star blocks. How did that happen? I only pulled 9 fabrics, didn't I? Oh, yes, that test block. I guess I pulled an extra one for that, but since it goes with the others and since I don't know what I am going to do with the back, I wanted to use all the blocks on the front. That is where this whole thing took a turn for the "different". I only added double borders on two sides along with the one block cornerstone. I thought it was finished, but then I decided it needed to be set with a final gray border. I sewed a 2 1/2" strip along the border sides and a 4 1/2" strips along the non border sides. Perfectiono!(she says, kissing her fingertips on her right hand and then waving her hand in the air) I really like how it looks.

Okay, I said that I hadn't been totally engrossed in making this top, I also have been keeping up with some of the blogs and one of them, 15 Minutes Play, had a posting about disappearing 4 patches. I read that posting, went to the makers blog and read that posting and still don't understand how to cut the blocks. That didn't stop me, though. I sewed 4 - 4 1/2" squares together into a 4 patch. Then I cut 1 inch to the right of the middle seam, turned it a quarter turn and cut 1 inch away from that seam. That looks nothing like - wait, one block looks like it may be part of the what I want - Nope. Can't figure it out. So, I took my pieces, turned a couple of them around and swapped them, sewed them all back together and voila! (another kissing hand thingy) here is my version of the disappearing 4 patch block.


That worked, now let's make another one and see what we have - Crash!! I just knocked off the drawer that holds my keyboard. I have done that before, but this time, I also took out the side support. I am not sure that this can be fixed. Back to the quilt blocks holding my keyboard in my lap. Here is two of them together. This doesn't look anything like the wonkiness of the other one, but I think it has potential, "we believe in you" sorry, flashing to Pretty Woman.

Ahh, I have gone back to the site and discovered that she cut one inch on both sides of each of those seams. Leaving, for the most part the middle section together. I am going to just have to ask her for a pictorial tutorial on exactly how she made them wonky. Or, I may have to sew some more blocks together and try it for myself.

Miss Fiona Lake/design wall monday

Here is the newest addition to our growing family. This is the one that my neighbor brought to my house thinking it was one of mine. It wasn't at the time, but since I have had her a couple of weeks, I have seen no evidence of an attempt to find her, she came without a collar and has apparently been well taken care of up until now, she is now mine and has the name: Fiona Lake. I have always named my dogs with a first and middle name. Her middle name is because she was found over here by the lake. I have found that she really doesn't like to have her picture taken. I would call her name and she would turn her head away or tuck it under the pillow! These are the best two that I had that weren't blurry from her turning her head so fast. Our Miss Fiona is a bit camera shy.
Below is a picture of my two other shi tzus. You can see why my neighbor thought this one was one of mine. She looks a lot like my Irish and when they are walking side by side, even I have a hard time sometimes telling them apart. She is fitting in great with all the boys and is even teaching McCallum, the yorkie and the baby of the bunch , to mind his manners.




Here is what I have up on my design wall today, Monday, January 7, 2011. I am working on my le petite challenge for February. I have all the center blocks done and sewn together and I am currently working on the borders. I am not sure if I want to do the same as everyone else, so I am playing with scraps and trying to figure it out as I go along. I also miscounted and made an extra block. I thought I was being so careful, but I guess making one block ahead of cutting out the rest, threw me off. I can't decide whether to put it in the corner of on the back. I will have to see after I play a bit more. I am going to finish this one earlier since last time I almost missed the parade. I was putting that final border on the last day of January. If you saw my quilt in the parade, you will notice that Sinta took my picture from my blog with only the three sides attached. It really looks better now with all four sides. To see more design walls on this Monday (or any day) just go to Judy's blog and check it out.





P. S. Dinner was great out with my friends. We had a lot of fun at Johnny Carino's for our monthly get together. There was gossiping and good times had by all!! I now have a new favorite for Monday nights. Their family platters are on half price and I got food for several, several meals for less than it would have cost me for one. I love a bargain!!

Oh, the weather outside is . . . Delightful!!

Yes, it is. Even though we have snow on the ground and the temperature is 16 degrees with a windchill of 3. I don't have to get out in it!! School was cancelled today. Hopefully it will be cancelled tomorrow, also since it hasn't gotten warm enough to thaw out the ice on the roads. I think the ice will be worse tomorrow since the heat from the cars/people that are crazy enough to be out and about will melt the snow/ice. The temp will re-freeze it immediately and then - poof - more ice and more danger. It is crazy here when there is snow and ice. Since we rarely see it the people in this community don't know how to drive on it . They still go their 50 or 60 miles an hour in a 35-45 zone and decide at the last minute that they are in the wrong lane and zip across three lanes of traffic to make their turn on the other side of the road. (no turn signal to boot!) I don't like to get out if I don't have to on days like this just because I know the crazies are out there and I am glad that I don't have to today.

Here is a picture out my upstairs window of the lake yesterday afternoon. I have never, in the 9 years I have lived in this house, seen the lake frozen over. I mean, completely frozen over.


This second picture is from this morning with a layer of snow over the top. It is beautiful, but crazy. It was 79 degrees on Monday!!

Thank goodness I went to the store Monday, with all the other people that live in this town! I just put on a pot of beef stew in the crock pot and can't wait until tonight when it will be ready. Unfortunately I didn't have enough beef broth to put into the stew so I cheated and used chicken broth and a little bit more beer than I had intended. That was interesting. Going to the 7-11 and purchasing beer. I asked the clerk if there was a smaller one that I could purchase individually than that large 32 ounce (I think) can, but there wasn't. I think he thought I was not all there. Of course, I probably wasn't totally all there since I had just spent a couple of hours fighting the crowd at the grocery store.

Now, on to playing in the quilt studio to work on my intuition quilt. I almost have the third quadrant done. I need to take some pictures of it so I can blog about it here and at 15 minutes play.

Mug Rug 1

Finished a mug rug to go with this new mug I purchased. It was on clearance for 25 cents!! I made the mug rug to go with it mostly from scraps from my scrap pile and from some pieces I pulled from my stash. So, for very, very little money I have my first Christmas gift for next year. To get the penguin almost the same, I took this picture of my mug, printed out four copies of the picture, cut out each of the pieces I needed, traced them onto heat and bond light, ironed them onto the fabric choice and built my pieces from there. I sewed the strips for the background, layered my penguin, stitched around all the parts with red or black thread, added the mug rug in black thread - over and over and over to build up the color, put a binding around it and called it a night. Well, almost since I am still awake and blogging about this.

See how cute they are together? Sorry about the shadows, but it is almost midnight here and I am doing this with just my overhead and one lamp. You will just have to trust me on this one, they are cute together.

Spam . . . Food or Friend(s)?

Spam Box? Blogger has enabled spam detection for comments and I should look in my spam box. hmmm. This begs the questions, "Is this box blue with yellow letters?", "Does it have a winter home in Hawaii?", "Can I mix it with potatoes and onions for a type of hash that I can smother in ketchup?" sorry, got a little carried away there. It was bringing back childhood memories. With 4 growing kids, my mother had to find nutritious and filling meals on a budget. That was one of our favorites. Believe it or not it was good. (I can't believe I said spam and nutritious in the same paragraph)

Okay, I will look in my spam box, if I can find it to see if I have any other comments from all of you that I might have missed.

On to the reason for this posting, I know you were all sitting on the edge of your seats just waiting to know if I had to go to school today or not. The answer is ... yes, I had to come to school today. :-( Before you feel too sorry for me, remember, that I am going to have very few students today due to one high school keeping all their kids on their own campus for testing and since it is cold - bitter cold for us since it was 70 yesterday and today it is currently 17 degrees with a wind chill way, way below that. (probably into the single digits or below - I haven't looked lately) We have had a touch of snow, but it is very dry since we haven't had any rain or moisture in over 48 days (I live in the desert - ie: wasteland) until last night. (got sidetracked) Anyway, since it is so cold, a lot of people here won't go out in the cold. Some of the students that did come to school today came in with only a sweat jacket on - NO COAT!! No gloves, no hat. (Sweat Jacket - a jacket made from sweatshirt material that has a zipper up the front and a hood) I really shouldn't' say anything since I ran from my car to the school carrying my coat and sweater in case I get cold in the building. Silly girl. Almost time for my one student to arrive and yes, I am blogging from school today for the first time. Nice to know that I can, but it makes it hard to post any pictures since they are on my computer at home and un-accessable here at school.