20th finish for 2015

Number 20 is done. I can also cross it off my UFO list! These strips are what I started off with.

I only had to cut 4 or 5 strips of fabric to have enough to make this quilt with no leftovers! The quilt is 32.25" x 39.75". I quilted it with King Tut linen white thread.

I had an friend stop over yesterday and I was telling her about what quilts I needed to get done in the next 6 months. I have a t-shirt quilt for my nephew I need to have done by mid-January so I can send it back to Georgia with my sister, his mother, when she comes to Ohio so I don't have to mail it. My friend reminded me Jan. 15 is only about six weeks away! I guess I had better get crack-a-lackin' on it! Here are the t-shirts and the design wall with the shirts I managed to get interfacing on them last evening.

Next project - floral 15 patch

I will start off by saying I am not a floral person, but I made a quilt with a lot of floral fabric back in 2010 and I have some leftovers. This is on my UFO list to use up these strips and leftovers.

The strips are 2 1/2" and I kind of laid them out in sets of two.

I cut the strips in half and put them in sets of four strips

After sewing together the sets, I pressed my seams in one direction and then pressed the unit in half.

Lining up the ruler, I then cut 2 1/2" sections

Here are the two blocks I got out of this unit. They are ready to sew together.

Here are the blocks I have done so far. I will have to dig around my fabric storage room to see if I can find a few more floral fabrics to add to this quilt. This will be another baby quilt to add to the stash.

As of right now I am not going any where for Thanksgiving so I will have lots of time in the studio. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

19th finish for 2015

Here is all done. It is not groundbreaking work, but it will be a memory for some little kid. The quilt turned out 39 1/2" x 50". I used King Tut white linen thread to free motion quilt it and warm and natural for the batting.

I had a piece of gray fabric that has a two tone weave to it for the back.

This is another item off my UFO list. Yes, I still have the scraps to deal with. On to the next quilt!

Binding the one patch quilt

I finished up sewing together the top while I watched the Boston College Notre Dame game. I also got the back pressed, taped down, batting spread out and the top smoothed. Sunday morning I pin basted and then started quilting. After my afternoon walk I sewed on the binding and got started on the hand sewing. I should have this finished tonight.

Would you like to see what the back of the top looks like?

Sunday I also needed to cook something for lunches and dinners for the next few days so I had some frozen chicken breasts. I coated them in a bit of olive oil, threw in some garlic, salt, and parsley and baked them in the oven. The smell was incredible. Maybe that is why I slept so bad last night because all I could smell is that chicken!

Progress on the one patch quilt

Yesterday I got two of the strip sets sewn together, pressed and cut. I am pressing the seams toward the dark fabric so that I don't have any shadows coming thru the Kona snow for at least this part. Eventually there will be seams pressed to the snow. Here I have strips 1 and 2 on the design wall. Once I get all the strips cut I can move the rows around to make the patches look more random.

The pieces to the right of the quilt will be for the binding and the extra bits to the left will go into the next quilt that will use up all the leftover scraps from the zig zag quilt.

So you know what I will be working on this weekend! I also have to try and get the front yard cleaned up. It is suppose to rain on Saturday, but will be partly sunny on Sunday so I will work my walking, sewing, and yard work around the weather.

I just found a bunch of comments from my November 9th post that ended up in my junk mail box. Don't know why that happened, but I want to thank all of you who commented on how you like the pink zig zag quilt.

Have a great weekend!

My big dream project, another UFO quilt, and a bit of baking

My big dream project is me. I bought a Fitbit back in February. It has been a great reminder to at least go for a walk. I have been more consistent in the last few months and yesterday I got my New Zealand badge! It means the total miles I have walked equals the length of NZ - 990 miles! You would think I would be stick thin by now, but I am not. I sure can walk up a hill now so I can feel how much stronger my legs are. My goal was to get at least 10,000 steps a day, but I need to up my game to get in 5 miles a day. For me that is around 13,500 steps as I have a short stride. Only time will tell if increasing my steps shrinks my backside and waist.

After walking I made coffee cakes for the guys at work. I had a carton of sour cream that needed to be used up. While the cakes baked I did dishes.

I finally got into the studio and cut the rest of the Kona strips I needed for the next UFO quilt. I will sew these rows of strips in to sets and then cut the sets.

18th finish for 2015

Yeah another quilt done! This will go into the stash in case I need a quilt quick. I used Kona snow and a variety of prints from different manufacturers. It was free motion machine quilted with King Tut White Linen. The strips were cut at 4". It turned out 39" x 52.75". It doesn't look rectangular in the picture - I must have tilted the phone when I took the picture.

For the back I use the last of this Jane Sassaman print and added another print to make it big enough. I have notice with the Jane Sassaman prints that the designs are not printed on the fabric squarely. This bugs me. I got all the Sasaman fabric in my stash at a really good price so if nothing else they make good backings. A friend of mine and I made a fussy cut quilt using her fabrics a couple of years ago and it was a trying experience due to the way the fabric was printed.

I will be sewing together the 3" strips from that UFO pile of strips I cut who know how long ago next. I will have to cut more Kona Snow strips. I laid out the strips this morning before I left to work and there is an interesting mix of fabrics - grays and pinks, browns and pinks, and white and pinks. I am thinking of a postage stamp style quilt with these.

Binding is machine sewn on

After work I made flat bread (yes, again!) and then headed down to the studio to cut the binding for the pink zig zag quilt. I now have the binding machine sewn on and the sewn mitered corners done. I trimmed it this morning so I am now all ready to do the hand stitching!

This fabric was on my UFO list, but I still have the skinny strips to make a quilt out of before I can cross this one off my UFO list. Here is the fabric I started out with

I do have a few of the wider strips left so they may get cut down. I haven't decided on a design for the skinny strips, but it won't be a zig zag.

All quilted

Saturday I spent my day doing errands and visiting. It was nice to finally get my glasses fixed. I accidently slept on top of them and the left temple piece was loose. Sunday I went for two walks because it was so nice outside - 63 degrees! I did manage to get the pink zig zag quilt quilted. I found some fabric for the binding so I will work on that tonight.

Top is made

I managed to get the top put together so you know what I will be working on this weekend!
Right now the top measures 40.75" x 54.75". A bit big for a baby quilt, but that how I roll!

I was lucky enough this week to snag one of Vicki's (of Field Trips in Fiber) glass pieces! I wanted something pretty for my master bathroom and bought the Tuxedo piece. It looks beautiful! She also include one of her hand made soaps!

Have a great weekend!

Blocks are all made

I didn't feel good last night so I didn't do very much. I forced myself to get the rest of the blocks made for this pink zig zag and do one load of laundry. You can see I took out the gray and pink striped row and substituted the dark pink row. I did get the first three rows of blocks in the upper left sewn in to rows this morning, but the rows have not been sewn together yet. I feel better today after a good night's sleep.

Progress on the next UFO zig zag and straightening up

I managed to get quite a few blocks sewn together and cut for this next baby quilt. The striped row and the gray print row were already sewn together so all I had to do was press and cut. I am not digging the pink and gray striped row. I have one more fabric to sew together - a dark pink geometric - that I think I will use instead of the pink and gray stripe. I use the pink and gray stripe blocks in another piece. I also had four good sized scraps of each fabric and I used those at the end of each row to add just a touch more width to the quilt. It looks awfully big right now, but once the blocks are sewn together and trimmed the size will shrink quite a bit.

Here is a close up of the gray print row. It has a touch of pink in it.

As I was laying out the strips of fabric into sets to be sewn together, I was short three strips of Kona snow. I went to my fabric storage room to get some Kona snow and this is what the shelf looked like where I keep most of my solids. What a mess!

So I pulled everything off the shelf and gathered a few more pieces that were buried in another pile next to this shelf and sorted it all out. The left row from front to back: Kona snow, white on white prints, assorted white yardage, and solids. The right row front to back: assorted white scraps, black and white sample blocks from lectures and teaching, and a bit of yardage still on the bold of Kona snow and a bolt of Moda whisper.

I put everything neatly back on the shelf except the Kona snow.

I should be able to start sewing together the rows tonight. I know this is simple stuff and probably not all that interesting, but I need to get quilts for the stash and clear up all the UFO's I have sitting around.

I measured the flora zig zag and it was 38" x 49.5".

17th finish for 2015

I got the last stitches in this about 8 p.m. This will go into the stash of baby quilts for any occasion that comes up that I need a quilt for. The floral fabric was an on-line giveaway from several years ago that I won. I quilted it with sweet pink Connecting Threads Essentials and warm & natural batting. I forgot to measure the size but it is somewhere around 35" x 43" 38" x 49.5". I will have to go home at lunch and measure it then update this post. This is one more item I can cross off my UFO list!

My next project are these strips. I may have enough here to make two baby quilts for the baby quilt stash. This is another item on my UFO list so I will kill a couple of birds with one stone again.

Almost done - the zig zag

I worked on the zig zag most of the weekend other than going for my walks, doing a bit of cooking, and laundry. I got the binding on late yesterday. I only had time to hand stitch part of one side so I will finish it tonight. The best news is that I didn't have any scraps leftover worth keeping! Here is just a taste of the piece. You will have to come back tomorrow to see the finished quilt.

Progress on the Zig Zag

I could not find any green in my stash that would go with this floral fabric so I went with a fuchsia tone-on-tone instead.

I think I will move the rows around so both the light colored rows (pink and yellow) are not together. I have no idea what size this might end up as we have a bit more playing to do with the remaining strips.

After a week of fantastic weather in NE Ohio it is raining today. I am not complaining as we could use a bit of rain before winter arrives. I have no big plans for the weekend except to work in the studio.

Have a great weekend!

Zig zag and Flatbread

I managed to get started on the zig zag quilt after I finished my walk and got the flatbread started. I just threw the blocks on the design wall for now. I will have another wide zig zag in yellow, another in light pink, and I have one more floral print that I will have to find some green tone-on-tone to go with it.

I made flatbread again last night - I keep sharing it with co-workers and friends so it goes fast. I thought I would write a tutorial for it just in case you would be interested in making some. The recipe came from Martha Stewart and it is called Julie's flatbread. I did tweak the recipe to my taste. I did double the batch in these pictures, but the recipe is for a single batch. So here goes

In a mixing bowl add:
1 1/4 teaspoons Yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons unbleached flour
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup warm water not more than 100 degrees

Mix and let sit to proof

While the yeast is proofing get a bowl and measure out your dry ingredients and stir to blend:
3 cups of unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup of herbs - I used a scant 1/4 cup the Tone's Italian seasoning that Glen of QuiltSwissy had sent me for making sauce. Martha Stewart used whole fresh rosemary needles.
Pepper per Martha Stewart, but I skipped the pepper

Meantime the yeast is proofed and ready to go

Add 1 cup of warm (not over 100 degrees) to the yeast then dump the dry ingredients all at once on top of the yeast and water. Put on your dough hook and mix just until the ball comes together. This is not like regular bread dough where you want to build up a lot of gluten. I did help it a bit by using a spatula and scraping the sides of the bowl as the dough mixed.

Dump the dough out on a lightly floured surface. You don't want to have too much more flour incorporated into the dough. The dough will be rough looking and a bit sticky.

Kneed the dough into a ball. The should only take 10 or twelve kneeds - it comes together quickly!

Put the dough in a bowl with some olive oil. I turned the dough around so it had a light coat of olive oil all over the ball - Martha did not do this, she just put the dough in the oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic and let the dough double.

Once risen, I gathered up what I needed to bake these - olive oil, grated Romano cheese, feta cheese, sesame seeds, and salt plus flour, a rolling pin, bench scraper, and baking sheets.

Take the risen dough out of the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Form into a loose roll and start cutting into pieces. A single batch - cut into 6 pieces. Here is my double batch cut into twelve pieces. Have the oven preheating to 400 degrees.

Take one piece of dough at a time, flatten it with your hands a bit using only what flour you need to keep it from sticking, then roll the dough a thin as possible. I found that sometimes I would hold the dough at one end and roll the pin with the other hand. Take the dough and put it on an ungreased baking sheet.

You might be able to only get one on a sheet, but here I must have cut my dough in small enough pieces to get two per baking sheet. I drizzled some good olive oil on each pieces and spread the oil out covering the entire piece of dough using my hand. Yes, you could use a brush.

Martha used thinly sliced vegetables on her bread, but I went with Feta on two, sesame seeds with a little salt on another, and Romano cheese on the last one. I did put a tiny, tiny bit of salt on the Feta breads, but none on the Romano cheese as it was already salty enough. This is where you get to use your imagination and try what you like! Bake for 12-15 minutes.

While those were baking I took the leftover dough and wrapped each piece in plastic. These will go into the refrigerator and I can bake them as I want over the next couple of days. Martha did not show this, but I tried it and it worked very well.

Here they are all baked. It was hard to sleep last night because the house smelled so good.

I like to cut mine into wedges (Martha didn't show this) and eat with a hot cup of tea. Can you say yum?

Let me know if you have any questions and I would love to see your flatbread!