Lori Holt's row #9

Before Christmas I had to make a difficult choice: for my vacation in the US during Christmas, should I bring all the Bee In My Bonnet Row Along fabrics or all the bits and pieces for Easy Street? I chose Easy Street, and it turned out to be a very good choice since Lori took a Christmas break in the rows. This way I was able to complete the quilt top of Easy Street in the middle of January, while I fell only a little behind in the row along.

During the weekend I managed to complete Row #9, the easy-peasy Star Row. It is looking good, isn't it?!

I should be able to complete the house row, row #10, in good time before the clues of #11 are posted.

I should also be able to start on the first mug rug in-between. It looks like it is going to be a good sewing-week!

Mug Rug Swap

After being home a couple of days and getting rid of the jet lag, I have finally started sewing again. Lori Holt's Row Along, row #9, is being sewn right now. This is the row with the cute, twinkling stars. A picture of the row will be posted tomorrow.

Now, to comply with the title of the post, I will forward this invitation to the Mug Rug Swap hosted by Michele in The Quilting Gallery. Deadline for registration is tomorrow, January 28. I have joined and received my patterns, and will soon begin to make the two mug rugs.

If someone else wants to join in, there is still time!

2013 Aurifil Designer of the Month

As last year, I have joined the Aurifil Designer of the Month. Last year it was all about stitchery, this year we piece one block a month designed by various designers from (almost) all over the world. Even a Norwegian designer is participating, she will design the June block. Here is my version of Jumping Jack Flash, the first block of the BOM. It is made completely of leftover fabrics from Easy Street.

 

 

Pictures of other blocks can bee seen  here.

First finish in January

This is actually true, even though my sewing machine has been working on full speed the first half of January assembling Easy Street, this coaster set is the first complete project I have finished in January.

The fabrics are leftovers from Easy Street. As you can see from the picture, I got to practice my FMQ skills on them.

I hope, and believe, that February will bring more completed projects. There's a lot of stuff waiting for me at home. Until then, happy sewing!

Easy Street quilt top 100% finished!

Here the top is flying in the wind with DH holding it tight. I am very pleased with the final result, the borders are on and the top definitely looks more complete now.

On the ground you can really see how big it is; approximately 100" square. The inner border is 1" finished, and the outer is 5".

It fits my bed perfectly!

Here is a detail picture of the borders. The colors look a bit dull indoors.

This is a huge quilt, and I don't think I will be able to quilt it myself. I will take the quilt top home with me, prepare the backing and take it further on from there.
At least one part of my UFO list is completed!

Have a nice day!

Easy Street borders, plus UFO list

Finally I have bought the border fabrics for Easy Street. The purple and turquoise were washed and dried yesterday together with color cather sheets, thank goodness; the sheets were dark with excess color.

The purple will be the narrow inner border. I also bought the backing fabric on sale, and I will show you that later when I have come further on with the process.

A lot of other bloggers have come up with lists of UFO projects to finish in 2013. Even though I haven't been quilting for a very long time, after rummaging through my UFO/WISP list I have quite a long list. Several of the projects are BOMs or BOM-like.

Here is the list of big projects that I will complete before starting anything new:

UFOs/WISP

EASY STREET - needs borders, backing and quilting
2012 AURIFIL DESIGNER OF THE MONTH - working on the last stitchery, needs sashing, backing and quilting
JACKIE'S BLOGGERS BOM - quilt top finished, needs backing and quilting
LORI HOLT'S ROW ALONG - still a few weeks/months to go

After having committed myself to completing these projects, I still have a few other quilts I will do as soon as possible. Among them is a twin sized quilt for DS2.

Progress will be shown on the blog!

Easy Street quilt top finished!

All the 2377 small pieces, if I did my math correct, are sewn together. The quilt top is finished and all that is missing is the inner and outer border. Here it is on top of my bed.

This picture gives more credit to the colors. Picture taking late in the afternoon indoors is never the best idea when it comes to lighting.

All in all, piecing Easy Street was a great experience! This was my first mystery quilt, and the biggest quilt I have made, ever! After starting quilting just over a year ago, I now feel confident in starting larger and more complex projects. Thanks to Bonnie for making this mystery and posting all the excellent clues and instructions for the piecing!

The hunt for border fabrics will begin!

Here is the link to the progress of the other participants in this mystery.

San Antonio, Texas

Trees in San Antonio don't freeze in the winter time since they have got sweaters on.

There are different models, of course; you can't wear the same as your neighbor!

By the Riverwalk there were lots of restaurants and also palm trees. We walked miles along the river, so much nicer to go there than up in the streets.

When we visited The Alamo it was raining all day. We had a good history lesson, and it was a special atmosphere in the surroundings where so many men lost their lives defending freedom. There were some fantastic old trees in the courtyard supported by beams to keep them from breaking. There were plenty of squirrels there having a great time running up and down.

After a long drive back in the rain, it is good to relax and start concentrating on assembling Easy Street.

Easy Street Part 8

Yesterday I completed all the 16 A-blocks, and now there is only 9 B-blocks left to make before the assembling starts.

I had to struggle with the wind outside trying to get daylight pictures, so I just got to get a few blocks laid out before they were blown away.

The whole stack of A-blocks on my porch. Small glass beads helped me weigh them down.

Actually, the colors of the blocks turned out better indoors on the floor.

Finally, here is a glimpse of how the quilt will look when it is done. The only thing missing is the 9 B-blocks, and the assembling, of course. Starting to look good!

You can see how the others are progressing here.

Progress on Easy Street, Part 7 and 8

Part 7 was completed yesterday, and now I have started Part 8. I had to see how a complete A-block looks, but I know that I will have to do some chain piecing of smaller parts of the blocks to make efficient progress of the project. Here is my first 8-a block not pressed yet:

Happy sewing to everybody working on Easy Street!