Light I Spy patches

Last evening was busy! I had to watch the third stage of the Paris-Nice bike race, gather up all the garbage and recycling and take it out to the curb, and clean up the kitchen (it was bad!). That did not leave me much time for sewing. I did manage to find 5 light colored fabrics that would work in the I Spy quilt. I am going to have to dig a little deeper in my stash and try to come up with a few more pieces. Since this child is a little older I am putting in shapes and geometrics - stripes and polka dots for instance.

Starting to piece that pile of patches and blocks

Hello Charlene S.! I did indeed find something to do. Since the wool quilt is on hold until I get the measurments from my brother and no amp covers to make at this time, I decided to start working on the the group of patches/blocks from yesterday's post. I started on the I Spy patches. I sewed two 4 1/2" patches together - a dark and a light. I am going for a checkerboard look.

I don't have enough light colored patches for sure and I don't think I have enough dark patches to make a decent sized quilt. This will be for a four year old girl. I will have to go thru my stash to see what I can find. I have bought some fabric since I cut these patches out so I may find a few pieces that will work. Here is the start of a the first few rows.

I did hear from my brother that the amp cover fit great so that is a relief! I asked him to send me a picture if he gets a chance.

Snow today

We have not had much snow this year, but it snowed yesterday and is still snowing today. Better on a Monday than on the weekend.

I worked on making labels for all the baby quilts I had to get ready to give away.

The quilts are all labled and ready to be handed out.

Most of Saturday was sitting over at a local high school watching the battle of the band my nephew's band was in. There were 14 bands plus a couple other acts performing. I got there at 3 pm and left at 10. It was a long day. I took my knitting so I could at least not waste the whole day. My nephew's band came in second in the youth catagory one point behind the band that won which were all high school kids. Michael is 14 and in the 8th grade. Michael did win a backpack that was raffeled off.

Sunday I spent the day doing a little of this and a little of that. I needed to clean out my backpack, sort out my stuff from my brother's mail so I could see what needed taken care of. I watched two bike races - the first stage of Paris-Nice and a one day race in Italy. During commercials I went around gathering up blocks for baby quilts that were all over the place.

At the lower left are patches for another I Spy quilt, green and brown pieces that needs sewed together, brown, pink and white pieces for a whirley gig quilt, red, cream and blue for a simple rail fence, and the back row are blocks for scrappy zig zag blocks. The box of fabric is scraps that need to be made into zig zag blocks. I would say I found something to do!

Weekend plans

Last night I decided to sew the rows together on the wool quilt. I still add on to the sides or the lenght once I get the measurements from my brother. Once I got the top done I was suprised at the weight. Even as lightweight as most of these wools were the whole top together is heavier than if it were made with cotton.

This afternoon I am headed to Dover to go to a wake for my friend's husband who died January 2. We are suppose to record a funny story about something Russell did. I haven't got mine done yet!

I need to get labels on all these quilts. They are all going to babies born to co-workers. I will be at the main office next week participating in the chili cookoff to raise money for the AmVets so I will see many of the new parents. I have 3 boy and 3 girl quilts here. I haven't figured out exactly what I need, but this is at least a good start.

Saturday my nephew's band, Retro, is in a battle of the bands. The event starts at 3 and ends at 10. Retro plays at 5, so I don't know how long I will stay. I plan on taking knitting and a book just in case I stay for the duration.

Sunday will be about relaxing and doing some regrouping. I need to gather up all the blocks I have in different places around the house for baby quilts. There are blocks in the fabric storage room, in closet inPeg's room and in my studio. I am going to have to replenish my stash of baby quilts after the big giveaway next week. If the weather is decent I may try to get some yard work done also.

Have a great weekend!

Cover done and more work on the wool quilt

It only took about an hour and a half to make the amp cover. The hardest part was wrestling the fabric and pulling the elastic out as I sewed it on. I can feel the workout of pulling the elastic in my upper chest this morning. Who knew I could get a workout in while I sewed!? Here is the finished cover

The amp cover went together so quickly that I had time to work on the wool quilt. I trimmed a bunch of blocks and sewed together one more row. I am going to keep the extra blocks for adding on to this quilt once I get the measurments from my brother. I like this quilt so much I think I will keep making blocks until I run out of the lighter colored wool pieces. I have a feeling there is going to be a need for me to make another one of these for someone.

Extra blocks

I got the call

Last evening I got the call from my brother for the size of the first amp cover he needs. Here is the photo he sent me.

I sketched the layout of the sizes I would need to cut out and proceeded.
Here are the pieces and the roll of elastic that I will assemble and turn into a cover tonight. I think it will not take more than two hours to make this. I would like to get it in the mail to him tomorrow. I will be anxious to hear how it works out. The size will be approximately 62" x 31" X 16".

Progress on the wool quilt

I sewed together 9 more blocks into rows. I was thinking of using a little more color in this quilt so I hung up the pieces next to the quilt as it looks right now. I am going to make the blocks and audition them. I am running out of light colored wool pieces. I may have to go and visit all the taylors in town to see if they have sample books they would like to get rid of.

When I pulled in the driveway after work I spied daffodil flower heads in the flower bed. It is still February in Ohio and they should not be up until early April! Yes, I need to get out there and clean up!

The day lillies are also comming up. Here is a group of them. I will have to see if the deer came last night and snacked on them.