Which layout do I want?

Decisions decisions.  How many times have you read those words from me?  Well today is another time.  Today's experiment is the Batik Braid Quilt by Reannalilydesigns.com.  I liked how her tutorial explained things and this was a regular braid not a French braid.  It was pretty but a little too scrappy for me.  I have problems with that yet.  So I thought what would happen if I laid it out like it showed but before sewing the individual braids together I'd put a vertical sashing in to break it up a bit more.  Of course the big question was what fabric to use.  I found a Moda jelly roll so I pulled that out.  It's pretty (thank you Marsha for trading it with me).  Once that was figured out, the next was to determine which 2 1/2" strips I would use.  I wasn't going to make a large wall hanging or braid so I didn't need all of the strips.  I finally settled on these.

Now I'm a lazy quilter.  I am addicted to sitting in my chair in front of the computer with the tv, across the room, on and me stitching applique by hand or something else.  Today the something else was cutting up the strips.  To accomplish this I taped my small cutting mat onto my wooden tv tray and put it in front of me.  It just fits nicely between me and the computer table and if it gets in the way I can slide the tv tray underneath the folding table that the computer is on.

To help speed up the cutting, I put pieces of tape on the cutting board to mark where I was cutting the fabric.  I put it up high enough so that I could cut either right underneath it, or scoot over one square so that I'm not cutting in the exact same place every time.

 It worked out pretty good.  After trimming off the selvage ends, this is the only part that was left from each strip.

Afterwards I had six identical stacks (2 1/2" x 7". 

It was time to lay things out and this is where I need help.  Which of these combinations do you like the best?  A?  B?  C?

Of course these will be trimmed after sewn. 

That's it for today but let me close by saying, PLEASE let me know which option you like best, and hear are some cute puppies to brighten your day.

I'm tired!

I'm tired but had a pretty productive day.  I managed to get some food cooked up and portioned up for meals later on as well as did some more stitching!  Tomorrow is another scheduled stitching day.

These are my blocks for the Victoriana Quilt Designs Stained Glass Strip quilt.   I am only going to make this a 4 x 4  because I want to hang it up in the office in a particular spot and that is what I will need.

This isn't the final layout though.  This is just pinned up on the board to get an idea.  I will be cutting down the block some and evening them out etc.  That might make them look different too but we'll see. 

THEN there are the black strips to add to it.  This will give you an idea of what it will look like.  This is a quilt as you go so now I wait until the last of the instructions will be given.  There isn't a timeline for that so it might take a bit before it is finished.  These will be put in one of my boxes and marked for when the next instructions come down the pipline. 

Tomorrow I will be working on another braid table runner.  This time I will use a different jelly roll and a different pattern.  The one I first did was a French Braid runner.  This one might be a just a braid but not sure I'll make a runner or follow the pattern for a wall hanging.  If I do the wall hanging I'm thinking of putting sashings vertically down each "braid" to help separate it more.  Of course I will show you my progress and which I like better.

I am glad that I did some cooking today too.  Tomorrow I can relax a bit more and not worry about food.  I think I might put some chicken in the crockpot tonight before bed and make some soup or something tomorrow.  Today I roasted some carrots in the toaster oven.

After they came out, I put them in snack bags.  I'm not fond of raw carrots for a snack but roast them or cook them and I ALMOST can't get enough of them.

After bagging them up, they are joining the other food that I portioned out.

In my portion pack bags, I have multicolored bell peppers and onions, ground turkey mixed with some of the bell peppers and onions, hot dogs, and smoked sausage.  I use the ground turkey mixture with eggs for breakfasts for work.  I add salsa and cheese as toppings.

I put 2 hot dogs in a pouch which will either be for lunch or perhaps cut up and put in another dish.  The smoked sausage I only put in one per pouch.  Those I will either have as is or perhaps add to my bean soup etc. 

That's all I have to report today.  I hope everybody will have a great day/night.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll take a picture of my cross stitch on Staircase to Heaven.  I'm about half way done with one page and even though it is primarily dark colors yet, I can make out where some of the books are.

Until next time...
Hugs.

Using up scraps

I made a couple of mug rugs for a friend who is going through some rough times.  The second one (the red one) isn't as good as I would want but it did use up some scraps and I think she will like it anyway.  That's what I get for doing something late in the evening.  LOL.

The blue one is because even though she is an educator, she is also a musician.  The red to represent NIU's Huskies!  GO HUSKIES!

Just a little thing to hopefully cheer her up a bit.

Time for me to get to bed.  I'll talk to you all tomorrow and tell you what I decide to work on next. 

Picture of French Braid Table Runner

I did it!  I can, sort of, cross off the French Braid table runner from my list of "to do".  I have only finished the top but that is the biggest struggle.  Believe it or not, I actually think I know how I will quilt it!  Gasp!  Did I just type that?!!!!!

Ready?   Here it is.

This is a short post since I have been up since around 230 a.m.  That is because of Lumpy.  Lumpy is a raccoon (we think) that got into the attic that is right above my apartment.  That means when Lumpy (because I'd like to give it some lumps) is running around, scratching at the walls, etc. it is by my ear and I can't help but hear it go thump. 

Lumpy has woken up early tonight.  Hopefully Lumpy will go into the trap and I can call animal control tomorrow morning and get Lumpy out of my place.  THEN it is time to call Ira (who I pay rent to) and update him and tell him some improvements that animal control told me he should do.

I guess this is a terrible year for raccoons and squirrels.  Terrible in the fact that they are FAR overcrowding everything else out in the area.  Animal control is being kept busy with their infestations because this winter did not take kill any off like it normally does.

I'm chicken and paranoid when it comes to things in the walls where I live.  Hopefully it won't take long to capture Lumpy.  I do not want Lumpy getting into my apartment and getting into my fabric!

Wish me luck!

Its Friday!

It's Friday and I'm tired but in a good way.  I managed to take a better picture of the string quilt.  I also remembered that I didn't show you the fabric that I'm using on the back.  Here are the pictures.

I have to work a bit this weekend so not sure how much crafting I'll be able to squeeze in.  Still any amount is a good amount right?

the backing fabric

I think that I'll make 2 x 2 big squares which should give me four large black X's.  That should fit nicely on my wall at work.

Speaking of work.  It's time to close up the office and officially start the weekend.  I'll start the weekend AFTER I kick of my shoes and wiggle my toes.  Here's to TOE WIGGLING!!!!!

:)

Victoria Quilt Designs Stained Glass String quilt

I've started on my Victoria Quilt Design Stained Glass String quilt.  I am going to like it.  I did six blocks tonight and then got curious as to what it would look like with the black sashing in between them so laid it out.

First the six blocks without the sashings or anything in between them.  The string blocks that Benita showed were all different but I wanted mine to have a bit more structure.  I liked hers but these fabric appealed to me and I used all scraps. 

 This is what it will sort of look like when the sashings are added, etc.  I had black jelly roll leftovers so I will probably use them.  These aren't cut down to the proper size but it did give me an idea of what it would look like.

It's time for me to get to bed.  I just wanted to get these pictures posted tonight.  I'll chat more another time but in the meantime I hope everybody has a great night/day.

tooting my own horn again

This is a quick little post but I forgot to toot my own horn on a second project that I did for The Quilt Pattern Magazine.  I know that I posted my mini wall hanging of April Showers but I forgot to post my row by row pattern that I tested.

I really like how it turned out and it is hanging in my office above my window.  I would show you how well it fits there but the lighting is terrible.  Anyway, here is the picture.

The other thing that I am working on is the Stained Glass String pattern from Victoria Quilts and Designs.

This is a bad picture but it is a rough draft .  These are just paper examples after I scanned a picture of the material I am thinking of. 

Oops...gotta run.

I'll talk to you later.