Hey.....Mom!!!

Yesterday i heard the rare call of the male child......"Hey....Mooommmmm!!

That's right the male child ....the one who lives downstairs......the one who sneaks off to college everyday.......the one we usually don't see or hear until dinner time .........

Anyway...he appeared at the top of the stairs and said.....(in a complete sentence)...."I've got a few pictures, you might want to use on your blog thingy........."

85 pictures downloaded later.....he disappeared again!

Thought i'd share a few.........maybe he's taking the wrong major..... these are pretty good!

Something Lost....something found!

Lost!!........the remaining pictures of my "quilt as you go "project.....UGH!!

They must have been erased from the camera before i could upload them to the computer.......Double ugh!!!!

Anyway ....here is the finished quilt.........if you have your panels made.....to finish the quilt, cut connecting strips to same length as you panel ...? x 1.25 inches....then you zig-zag your panels together using the same method as you used to put the blocks together and finish the longer connecting strips in the same way........simple....huh!??

If you are using ...LARGE blocks ...... i have found that it is easier to start your zig-zag stitches in the middle of the two panels you are connecting ....then flip it around and zig-zag the other half......for some reason it's easier to line-up the smaller connecting strips and the fabric doesn't "slip" as much..........

Then you can add borders or just add the binding and finish as usual.......i just put binding on this one ...cause i wanted to keep it small

I'll post some pictures of the next project ....if someone (city boy) doesn't mess with my camera!

Found........yesterday City Boy and i drove thru a snow storm over the mountains to the VA Hospital in Johnson City, TN.....that was fun!!!

He had several lumps ......one on his shoulder, one on his back and one on his cheek/jawline....under his ear.......Well...the shoulder and back turned out to be cyst and can easily be removed....

But.....found the other is a lypomia (sp) laying on the facial nerve for the left side of his face.......now we are off to make appointments with an ENT surgeon....seems that if the tumor is "involved" with the nerve.... removing it could cause the left side of City Boys face to "droop".........my mind is picturing.....jowls like a bloodhound or basset...with a gray beard.....

Good news .....it's not cancer.....it doesn't hurt...it's not getting bigger and doesn't bother him in anyway......so we've got some time to decide on a course of action.................

Can't shake that droopy jowl image from my mind.......... :>/

Wordless Wednesday.......

Sunrise

Sunset

Have a safe and warm day.........

The Fun Part.......

Take 2 block......one front side up and one backside up....pin a connecting strip along the right side of block one and a connecting strip along the left side of block two......stitch each strip in place using a standard 1/4 inch seam.........

Now .... the fun part.......flip block two over so that both blocks are front side up....put the raw edges together.....one connecting strip will be on top and one will be on the bottom...but, the strips should be part of your raw edges.......Zig Zag stitch the two blocks together......Yeah!!

Press the back connecting strip over...tucking the raw edge inside.....your strip should be approx. 1/2 to 3/4 inch in width and cover your seam lines and zig zag stitches........

Here's where i differ....the method i was taught had you HAND SEW the folded edge fo the connecting strips.....but, like i said...."I like short cuts"....so i stitch it down with the machine....very close to the folded edge.......Sorry picture is sooooo bad........then flip it over and do the same thing with the connecting strip on the front side........when you've finished ....there will be one row of stitches close to the edge on the front connecting strip and two rows of stitches on the back side..........if you ever did any alterations or tailoring......it looks like a "French Seam" on both sides.......

Repeat process until you have as many blocks connected as you want.......i had 20 blocks so i made 5 panels of 4 connected blocks........

Hope this was clear and understandable...........more tomorrow.......

Yikes.......i hear the moving trucks.....it's MOVING INTO THE LODGE DAY!!!!!!........and i'm still in my PJ's.........hey.......it's the parental units.....they know me well........

Have a great day........................!!??

Here Goes........

Well....here goes......several of you have asked about the "quilt as you go method"that i have been using for my last few quilts......

After some soul searching and prayers ......remember....i'm not a teacher.....even though i retired from a school district......i was a bookkeeper.....not a (gulp!) teacher!!!

Start with finished blocks.....these are 10.5 x 10.5 inches.....i've used this method with blocks as big as 20.5 x 20.5 and as small as 6.5 x 6.5 and it works well

I finished all my blocks and squared them to 10.5 x 10.5

Cut your backing and batting .5 inches bigger than your blocks......these are 11.0 x 11.0...

Sandwich each block ...the same way you would do a full size quilt......pin baste and quilt each one

After you quilt your blocks square them (trim) to your basic size.....I trimmed these to 10.5 x 10.5.........Look.....20 little quilts!!!

Cut your connecting strips.................they should be whatever size your blocks are ...? x 1.25 inches......these are strips are 10.5 x 1.25 inches........you'll need 36 in all.....18 for the front and 18 for the back......i usually have a few left over ...but, for some reason the #18 sticks in my head...

OK......like i said .....I'm not a teacher and that's all my pea size brain can coordinate for today.......

More pictures tomorrow and hopefully.......gulp...gulp!!.......more explainations........

Why do i do these things to myself???...........................

Hey...!!!

"Who taught the cat how to Google????....!!!!!

Paper....What...??!!

The female child called yesterday and asked ...."can you paper piece?"

Yes....i've done some paper piecing in my past life and it's not my method of choice.......all those little scraps of fabric.......ugh!.......i'm a get in there and get'er done kind of person........

However, this little table runner above was my last piecing project......i think i made 2 or 3 as gifts and kept this one......................i drag it out when i need a "Florida Fix"....which is not very often!!

Anywaaayyyy.......Mom and i are going to Atlanta the end of March for a shop hop.....guess i'll check -out the new project the female child says....."i need to do!!"