Stash Report, Wild & Goosey Pieces & Parts

Thanks to  my Gypsy Wife top, I have yards used to report.  They should have gone on last week's report which I didn't get around to.   Three yards seems like a paltry number of yards used for the number of hours I spent figuring out this quilt!

Used This Week:  3 yards (Gypsy Wife)                                      
Used Year to Date: 44.125 yards 
Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 53.875 yards
 Net added: 9.75 yards

This weekend I've been into my scraps.  Here are some units for Wild & Goosey:

 

I'm considering a wandering geese border for this quilt.  This is a trial paper pieced section.  I like the idea of paper piecing this border because it requires no pre-cutting. 

 

Here are half blocks.  I love the variety of scraps in this quilt.

I'm still not sure how big I want to make this quilt.  Here are the blocks I have completed.  They are sewn into rows, but the rows aren't sewn together yet.  I think I want an x block in each of the four corners which means each row needs an odd number of blocks. 

 

I ordered the sewing room floor this week.  They said it will take a couple of weeks to get it in and install.  Can't wait!

 

If you have a design wall in your sewing space, please let me know how you made it and if you are happy with it. A design wall for my sewing room is on my list of wants for this space. 

 

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/07/26/fabric-report-week-30-2015/ 

Gravity: Eclipse Blocks

These are the blocks which gave me the most trouble because I cut them wrong.  It was a ten minute fix to sew the fabric back together and recut.  It was totally user error, not something wrong with the pattern, and in the end, I'm happy with how they turned out.  If I'd have had extra fabric, I would have recut the pieces from scratch.  If I weren't lazy I would have reordered the color Kona I needed and started anew.  In the end, I'm satisfied with how they are.  I rarely make a perfect quilt!

 

 

 

Linking up:  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2015/07/gravity-quilt-along-block-8-eclipse.html

 

Gypsy Wife Top Done

I finally got the last three seams of Gypsy Wife sewn.  The top is cock-eyed, and I already lost and inch and a half of length squaring it up, so it's as good as it's going to get. I felt a little better after looking at the model in the book.  It doesn't look completely square to me either.

 

This was among the most expensive and  worst patterns I have ever tried. I have looked at other Jen Kingwell quilts, and there are several others of hers that I really  like, but I won't buy another of her patterns because Gypsy Wife was so poorly written.  I will use her quilts as inspiration only and make my own versions of her quilts. 

 

When I buy a quilt pattern, I expect the bugs to be worked out already. I buy patterns to save myself time.  This pattern was an exercise in frustration for me.  I feel like I wasted a lot of good sewing time on this one.  Clearer directions would have made a world of difference in how I feel about Gypsy Wife.  As it is, I can honestly say that, though I like the quilt, it was not worth the time to make it, and  I am glad I did not spend any money on fabric.

 

I wish pattern makers would slow down, proof read, and have pattern testers try out the patterns.  Rushing through the pattern writhing isn't fair to people who buy the patterns.   

Wild & Goosey

I've been working on Wild & Goosey little by little.  Last week I got a bunch more blocks done.  The blocks are sewn into rows, but I haven't sewn the rows together yet. 

 

 

 

I'm really enjoying making the little paper pieced flying geese.  

 

I'm also enjoying the big empty floor space in my soon-to-be sewing room.  It will be 3 or 4 weeks until the new floor is installed.

 

Linking up:  http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2015/07/scraptastic-tuesday-july-link-up.html

 

Stash Report, Gypsy Wife

I discovered another quilt shop in my area this week!  I thought Chadwicks was a consignment store for high in household goods that also sold a few smocked dresses.  They moved locations about a year and a half ago, and I visited the store only because it was part of the summer Row by Row.

 I was expecting a small selection of broadcloth, gingham, and small floral prints suitable to make children's dresses.  Instead I found jelly rolls, layer cakes, charm packs, bolts of batiks, kona cottons, entire moda lines, quilt patterns, books, rulers, and notions. I was so surprised!  This shop doesn't have quilts hanging on their walls, but they have more quilting fabric than one of  other the quilting stores in town.  I will definitely go back to Chadwicks.  It is actually closer to me than two of the other quilt store I usually frequent. 

I picked up their Row by Row kit even though it has a small amount of applique.  I have been a little disappointed that so many of the shops I've been to have much the same pattern.  The theme this year was 'Water'.  At least 5 of the shops I've been to have applique patterns of fish.  I'm not doing than much applique!  But the patterns are free, so I pick up the applique ones anyway and give them to my sister.

Used This Week:  0                                       
Used Year to Date: 41.125 yards 
Added this week: 0 .25 yards
Added year to date: 53.875 yards
 Net added: 12.75 yards

I'm close to a finish on Gypsy Wife. 

Three more big seams, fix the bottom right corner, trim and the top will be done!  What a relief!  Sandy of Quilting for the Rest of Us talks about quilting monkeys, as in the quilt monkey on your back.  I rarely feel that way about a quilt, but this one was a quilt monkey!  I'll feel good when the top is finally done and the pattern is out of my house!

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/07/12/fabric-report-week-28-2015/

 

Gravity: Cosmic Blocks

Here are this week's Gravity blocks.

 All the blocks in this quilt have gone together easily.  It is nice to work with big pieces for a change.  I'm still liking Jaybird Quilts' rulers, and her pattern directions are easy to follow.  I'm looking forward to making another of her quilts as soon as I get one of my scrap tops pieced.

Linking up:  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2015/07/gravity-quilt-along-block-7-cosmic.html

More In Bloom

We were gone just four days last week, and in just that short time, more things started to bloom.

Here's the crepe myrtle in the front yard:

It has gotten huge over the past 13 years we've lived in this house.  We are not ones who do much pruning to our trees.  Some of my neighbors practice 'crepe murder', they cut the tops off their crepe myrtles every  spring until the tree stands about 8 feet tall.  They get a lot of growth and flowers on the tops, but they ruin the shape of the tree.  My crepe myrtle needs some trimming up of the lower branches.  I'll also cut off any branches that are scraping the siding of the house.  Whoever planted this tree should have moved it farther out from the house or planted a different variety.  Eventually, we will have to take this tree down and plant something smaller.  I took one of the seedlings from this tree and planted it out back a few years ago. It is blooming some, but not like its parent tree.

Trimming some of the lower branches should also help these daisies get more sun. 

 

These daisies were planted in the backyard by the former homeowner.  They spread all over, and last year I gave loads of them away.  All of my daisies are now getting too much shade.  They all need to be moved.  It is a big job and too hot to contemplate doing until fall.

 

I have four varieties of yellow daylilies now.  These are the biggest (6-7 inches across) and last to bloom.

 

 

My sister gave me some pink daylilies a couple of years ago.  Last year I think I got one flower.  We have had a lot of rain this month, though, and I've gotten a lot of blooms from them lately.

 

 

I planted 6 swamp milkweeds  last year.  Only two are blooming.  It must be location related. 

 

 

Swamp milkweed is not my favorite flower, but I plant them for the butterflies.  The bees and dragonflies seem to like them too.

 

My rose of Sharon and lantana are unremarkable this year.

 

 

Maybe I should have stuck with the yellow lantana.  I think we've had a little too much rain for peak performance.  I'm also surprised my butterfly bushes haven't bloomed yet.  I can see little  1/2 inch buds, but no flowers yet.

 

Here's my mystery plant.  I may have mentioned this last year.

 

 

It looks like a cross between an iris and a lily to me.  I don't know where it came from.  It just appeared in the flower bed one day.  Update:  a little googling shows that this is probably a blackberry or leopard lily.