Happily Productive!

It's so nice when I am able to get almost everything on my To-Do list accomplished in any given week, but especially this week given that we are so close to Christmas!  I finished up several hand-made Christmas gifts this week and wrapped them up, ready to ship off to my loved ones!

And I am happy to report that my Clue #4 tri-rec units are completed for Bonnie's En Provence Mystery Quilt (EPMQ)!

And I did them right the first time LOL!!!  Actually, I really enjoyed stitching up these units.  Because we had just finished making them for Clue #2, my mind was already in tri-recs mode and I was able to crank them out with no problems.  And what joy to work with these rich purples!!!!

I'm now caught up on all the EPMQ clues so far, as you can see from my completed Clue #3 dark/light purple 4-patches shown in the above picture.  Bear in mind again that I am only doing half the units Bonnie calls for because I am just planning to make a lap-size quilt - unless I end up loving it of course, in which case I have plenty of fabric to make a bigger quilt :*)

Since the 4-patches were so scrappy this time, I only cut one strip off of each of my purples, so it didn't make sense to use my Sizzix cutter for the strips.

However, I did use it to cross-cut the sections for the 4 patches -

How nice to be able to have all of them cut with one simple turn of the handle!  I love turning my 4-patches over so I can admire the cute little swirls on the back (smiles!)

I'll be linking up with my fellow mystery quilters over at Bonnie's Monday Linky Party - click HERE to come over and see all the En Provence loveliness!

And for those of you who are still hanging around, I bet you are hoping for a picture of Rocky - right?  Well, here is Mr. Snoopervisor hard at work making sure I get that perfect 1/4" seam on the strips for the 4-patches...

I think he really likes the vibration of the machine, because he only gets up there when I am actually sewing.  After all that hard work, he decided to take a well-deserved nap - I spied two adorable little sets of kitty toes and an impressively furry tail sticking out from under my foyer quilt rack...

 I think he likes to take naps under there because the heat vent under the quilts makes it toasty warm :*)  He's actually inside the quilt there - that cat sure does love him a quilt!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Goin' Round in Circles .....

Who knew that goin' round in circles could be such great fun?

I've just laid these out for the photo - none of them are stitched down to the backgrounds yet, and they won't be sewn next to each other in this order.  But I this might work as a Design Wall Monday overview of most of the ones I've chosen so far.

February 1 was my "official" Quilty 365 start date, but you may remember from this post that I had a cruise on my horizon?  Yep, I did!  And it came up much more quickly than I ever dreamed it would ... I just returned from my 7-days at sea last weekend!  I've already written up a post to share tomorrow with some of the fun details of that trip, so be sure to check back.

For today, let's keep it as Quilty as possible!!!

Obviously, I didn't spend time cutting circles on the ship, so I had quite a bit of catching up to do when I returned.  I'm sure you're not surprised that many of my choices reflect my adventures on the high seas!

Upper left of course represents the ship we sailed on, the Westerdam, and yes, I made sure I knew where the lifejackets and lifesavers were!  (Our lifeboat was just below our cabin - I could have jumped right in it if needed LOL!!!)  Upper right represents an amazingly talented singer who entertained us one evening (more about her tomorrow).  Lower right is a bathing beauty, which represents me, of course, sunning myself on those gorgeous Caribbean beaches ... well, okay, not so much LOL!!!  But a girl can dream, can't she?  Lower left is a beautiful Laurel Burch mermaid, which represents the gorgeous Mystery Quilt project we made in class.  Here's a quick peek at my finished top ----- you all know how much I LOVE Laurel Burch, don't you?  So you can imagine my squeal when I saw these fabrics!!!

I don't normally do mysteries, but it was part of the class package and we were told it would be a Memory Quilt project to commemorate our cruise experience, so I went along, hoping for the best.  I was so glad I had not passed on it when she revealed it our first night at sea!  I'll share much more about this and our other classes in a later post.

This next group of circles showcases some of my favorite sea creature prints .... granddaughter Sara was with me when I purchased that adorable octopus print ♥

And then a few circles chosen to represent those aforementioned Caribbean beaches....

The bottom is a tropical flower, although I have to admit, I didn't see many of these.  Even on our Rainforest drive, there were only a couple of flowers, and they weren't anything to ooh or aah about.  Top right is of course the incomparable Caribbean waters - yes, they really are absolutely clear and unbelievably beautiful ....

And upper left is the best I could do for the delicate white sand on their beaches - can you see the sparkles in this closeup photo?

I think it comes pretty close to the real thing.....

The next group of circles were for Valentine's Day week!

The first one is for the stunning vase of dusky-pink roses My Guy had waiting for me upon my return ... oh yes, have I told you he's a keeper? *wink*

And then the next grouping were chosen for the nonstop gloom in Tennessee for three days after our return....

We left beautiful 80 degree temps and sunshine only to see THIS on my roof the next morning .... followed by rain, rain and more rain - Ugh!!!

The bright colors and happy houses in the Bottom Right circle is about my JOY when the sun finally peeked out to brighten up my world!

I love, love, love that pink text print in the Upper Left ....

This was cut from a scrap left over from my granddaughter, Genevieve's, quilt a couple of years ago.  The words are about warming influences, illumination, brightness, "restore to freshness", rejuvenation - any wonder why I love it so?  It was pink, so a natural choice for the week of Valentine's, and it also makes me think of Spring - which I sincerely hope is right around the corner!!!

Last but not least are a few that represent daily life events ...

The first circle is about something fun which I haven't yet shared with you - I bought a new Pfaff Creative 4.5 sewing machine a few days after Christmas!!!  Yes, I love it!  She's quite a bit more noisy than I would like, but she sews like a dream, and I couldn't imagine giving her up.  I chose this circle last week when I went to my last class.

The middle circle is of course my beloved Carolina Panthers who sadly fell short of their Super Bowl quest this year.  There was a Super Bowl Party in the entertainment center of the Westerdam and we got to watch the game on a huge screen - it was awesome!  Well, except for the "losing to the Broncos" part LOL!!!  And of course, how could I resist a Downton Abbey circle there on the right?????  It's off center I know, but that was the only way to get the entire name on it.  When the 1/4" is turned under, the name will be just on the edges, so this will just have to do.

As I shared in a previous post, I'm using an array from white to black with various tone-on-tone light- to dark-grays in between for my backgrounds....

I managed to get all the 5" squares cut, starting out using a cutting die for my Sizzix machine.

It cut all the white squares beautifully...

But then, disaster struck on the silver squares!

That is the BLADE on the top, stuck in the cutting mat!!!  It was stuck so deeply that it broke off and then into pieces when I tried to lift the die.  My Guy had to use pliers to pull it out of the acrylic mat!

Look carefully and you can see the piece of blade still sticking up in the right-hand corner

This was a new die, just opened for the first time, so I'm not sure what happened.  Maybe it was defective, or maybe my acrylic mat was too scarred?  I'm hoping Sizzix will take care of making it right when I contact them - those dies are expensive!  Needless to say, I had to cut the rest of the squares the old fashioned way.

I'm happy to finally have this project well under way!  I love choosing a new fabric each day, and I'm finding that it's a bit of a challenge to keep it from becoming something of an I Spy project.  I'll catch up on stitching them down by doing several each evening until I'm caught up.

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Sizzix Fabric Cutter Review

Thanks to all of you who commented on the new Sizzix cutting area My Guy put in my sewing studio!  

Having a dedicated area for cutting is amazing!!!  I've never had that kind of room for sewing before, and believe me I am so grateful for it now!  I suppose there is something to be said for the Empty Nest, right?

The question most of you asked was for my opinion on the difference between the Sizzix and the Accuquilt machines.  So I thought I would share on a post for all of you :)

I really haven't used an Accuquilt Go cutter, but I have friends who own one and they are very happy with it.  I have to tell you though that I LOVE my Sizzix Big Shot Pro!  I purchased it because I got an amazing deal on it, and it does everything I would want a cutter to do.  The only cutter that can hold a candle to it is the Accuquilt Studio, but the cost of Studio dies takes my breath away!!!  I can cut very small pieces from a 6" die or up to 5 strips at a time if I'm using the extended tray and large dies - such a time saver!  And they are perfect every time.  I waste very little fabric because I cut my fabric to a size just a bit larger than the piece I am cutting before I put it in the cutter.  Some waste, yes, but I find that my pieces are more accurate so no waste from mistaken cuts or time spent thinking about where I need to cut each time.  It's definitely worth it for me!  What I may waste in fabric I more than make up for in time and the lack of stress.  And don't forget the lack of stress on my hands from rotary cutting!

I can also use any die with my machine, both Sizzix and Accuquilt dies.  However, the Accuquilt Go can only use Accuquilt dies, not Sizzix.  I felt it gave me more options.  I think Accuquilt has more die options, but since I can use any of them in my Sizzix with an adaptor, that's not a problem.

I cut Easy Street almost exclusively with dies..... see my posts HERE and HERE ...

..... most of Bonnie Hunter's quilts can be cut using a die cutter!

At our last Guild meeting, Scrap Queen Pam, shared that she purchased a Go Baby for the smaller dies and loves that it is transportable.  I have to say, I was intrigued and will store that in my little brain for the next time Joann's has a sale :*)

So those are my thoughts - I would love to hear any of your thoughts or experiences too.

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Not Yet Done with Green!

Our Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for May was GREEN, and I finally managed to find enough time to put together my little GREEN Hootie Owl to add to the growing flock....

And then there were FIVE  *wink*

I washed GREEN fabrics until I began to feel like a stalk of broccoli!!!  I wonder if that is the reason I ate so few salads this month?  Hmmmm..... oh well :*)  Honestly, I had no idea I had so many GREEN fabrics!!!  And it's not even my favorite color - go figure :)

I did start pulling out some fabrics to audition for my Soul Searching block....

..... but all plans of working on that flew out the window when My Guy announced he was ready to set up my Sizzix station in the studio!!!  Yippee!!!  I was almost as excited as Gypsy gets when she hears me yell "Treats!"

Up to now, my Sizzix Big Shot Pro - which is extremely heavy! - has been stuck under a table.  I really haven't used it as much as I would like because it is too much trouble to get it out and find a place to set it up.

We had a HUGE legal-size, five-drawer lateral filing cabinet in one corner that I was anxious to move out of there, and we decided it would be the perfect place to give the Sizzix cutter a permanent home.  Here are the file drawers in the middle of the TV corner of my studio....

And here are the cabinets we planned to put in there instead - two 24" base cabinets in white.....

And here are the same cabinets all boxed up again and back downstairs so they could go back to Lowes!

I didn't realize until we got them set up that my dies didn't fit in them - oops!!!  I have the extended tray cutter which uses 25" long dies, so back to Lowes the cabinets went.  Ask me what My Guy thought about that little miscalculation - especially considering he is moving all these cabinets up and down the stairs with a bum knee!  (with my capable help of course *smile*)

And FINALLY, here are the new ones - one 18" and one 36" base cabinet.....

The cutter has to have all that space on each side for the tray to clear on each end

as it moves through the machine.

Perfect!!!!

And just in case you were wondering how BIG a MESS two people can make in one morning in a sewing studio.....

Yep, it looked like 10 bombs dropped in there!  

But have no fear, by this evening all is back in order, and my new cabinets look absolutely divine, even if I do say so myself :*)  Cutting fabric is now going to be such a pleasure!!!!

So I suppose I will be working on May's GREEN for a little while into June.  Hopefully Angela won't bounce me out of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!!  I promise to do better in June.... which by the way is tomorrow!!!  Wow, how time does fly, doesn't it?

Hope you are finding fun, quilty ways to enjoy your summer!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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It's beginning to look a lot like.....

Christmas!!!!

Can you believe we are just now putting up our tree?  I know - we're bums!!!  But seriously, we just simply haven't had time or opportunity before now.  Travel, 'flu, parties.... we're a busy couple of folks!  Things have been feeling a little upside down....

So today is officially Put-up-the-Tree day.  Honestly, I'm so glad our son and his family are coming the day after Christmas, because we would probably have opted out on putting up the tree this year otherwise.  And as we all know, it's not good to forego the tree!  Hubby is having *fun* now shaping it up and putting all the lights on it.  When he's done, then I'll decorate with the ornaments.  Perhaps I'll update with an "After" picture later tonight :*)

We hope to have the decorating done by game time.  I'll be stitching on my current Promises & Borders block today since I don't have my next Blue Collection block prepped for applique yet.  I'm joining up with Kathy and others doing some slow stitching today HERE.

I really need to get these P&B blocks done anyway.  I'm tired of working on them and need to get them off my plate!

I managed to steal a nice block of time for sewing on Easy Street Friday - whoohoo!!!  I got Clue #5 all cut out using the Sizzix cutter for the 3-1/2" squares....

and the same for the 2" purple squares.....

I have about a third of these blocks complete.  This is an easy block, so I'll probably finish them up before I go back and work on Clues 2-4 to catch up.

Drawing a line diagonally through squares is NOT one of my favorite ways to spend my time, so I used my Angler tool to sew the purple squares on.  

I thought I might show you how that works for those who have not tried the Angler tool.  It's quicker and easier for me, and no drawing lines!!!!!  You just position the squares so that the corner of the square you are sewing on sits on the center line of the Angler....

All the way to the end....

If you are interested in more information on this tool, there is a YouTube video HERE  to see more about how it works, and you can Google it to find several places to purchase it.  I'm not affiliated in any way of course, just sharing a tool that I like to use in this type of block :*D

I did enhance the stash just a little this week!  I won this great package of fabrics & a pattern from Marcia over at Marcia's Crafty Sewing & Quilting.  I just love these bright fabrics!!!  And down on the bottom right is a really fun quilty card she also included in the prize package.  Thanks Marcia!!!

I also added these two batiks that were very low on the bolt and crying to come home with me.....

Gotta love those colors, right???  Wow!!!

As for sweet Gypsy, she's not feeling very sweet right now LOL!!!  She actually feels a little more like this....

I'd update with a current picture of her, but she's off somewhere sleeping off the last dose of pain killers :*D  

Plus, she's really not looking her best, and every girl needs to look her best for the camera, right?  

She does seem to be doing better though, and we thank you all for your lovely thoughts and prayers!!!  I'll let her blog her thanks when she's feeling a little better.

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday!

Hugs & Blessings,

Teresa

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