I guessed! I won!

Look what came in the mail for me!

I won Staci's giveaway and she sent me a fabric bundle of linen/cotton blend fabrics from Canton Village Quilt Works. I still can't believe I came close to guessing how much her scraps weigh but who am I to argue?!? I needed a pick me up of colorful fabrics so Thank You again Staci!

I should have learned by now not to predict when I'll finish a quilt as I did in my last post. I'm finally ready to put the borders on my RRCB aka Peppermint Hot Fudge Brownie Delight quilt. No pictures yet but they're coming soon. It really is a pretty quilt and I'm looking forward to having it machine quilted and on our bed!

I've already started thinking about my next PhD (Projects Half Done) - the selvage spiderweb quilt. I laid out the pieces I've already finished and here it is.

I would like to make it a bed size quilt but how large it will be depends on how many selvages I have. I do know that there are selvages everywhere in my sewing room and when this quilt is finished, I'm planning a big clean up job in there!

Full Steam Ahead!

Progress on Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt,

"Roll Roll Cotton Boll"!

All of the blocks are pieced and this afternoon I started sewing the rows together. Since the quilt is large, it needs a lot of space and so here it is laid out on our living room floor.

I'd like to get the rows sewn together tomorrow, square the top and start looking through my stash of green fabrics for possible border fabrics. I may not have enough of one fabric so do you think a scrappy narrow border would look good? No problem if I have to go to the quilt store as I need backing fabric for it anyway. I'll brave the really cold wind chills we're having for a trip to the LQS for some show and tell and shopping therapy!

Of course, there's one more step to this mystery quilt - the pieced final border. Its definitely going to take me some time but if I'm really dilligent and nothing happens to keep me from my sewing machine, I might be able to finish the quilt top by the end of the week. I am certainly hoping so anyway!

Bonnie Hunter has named this quilt "Roll Roll Cotton Boll" but today whenever I looked at the colors, I kept thinking "Peppermint Hot Fudge Brownie Delight", a hot fudge sundae made with peppermint ice cream served on a warm brownie. Mmmmmm, my favorite! I think I can identify better with a hot fudge sundae than a cotton boll so maybe a name change is in the works for my version!

Disappearing HSTs

I'm working, as I can, on Quiltville's latest mystery quilt, Roll Roll Cotton Bowl and thought I'd give you an update. Actually the reason I'm posting is I'm probably just procrastinating getting started on it today! You've heard of the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern? This post is about my disappearing Half Square Triangles.

Here's one of the finished blocks from the step released last week. Don't be too impressed because I only have 3 of them done! I've finished parts of several steps but I can't seem to totally catch up on all of them. I have no idea why I'm struggling with the neutral string blocks but I'm way behind on them. Tomorrow, Bonnie Hunter will release the final step which may be a pieced border. What else would you do with 172 parallelograms from Step 6?

Okay, here is what my ironing board looks like today. Well not quite true, I've artistically covered the water stains my iron has left behind but otherwise, this is what's on it. You can see Half Square Triangles sewn into groups of 5 and a few stacks of groups of 4 which should be 5, more red/neutral fabric plus the triangle paper. Guess what that means?

This afternoon, I'm going to solve the mystery of the disappearing HSTs. A few days ago, I determined I was short a few of the red/neutral HSTs. Then the number ballooned up to being short 20 and last night I decided that even though I was really sleepy, I'd recount because that number couldn't be right. I was right it wasn't correct. I now need 37 more red/neutral HSTs! I even got out my trusty old calculator and rechecked. How could it be an odd number? Where have they all gone to? Are my math skills that bad or am I having a senior moment?!? I do know I better make those 37 HSTs and sew them into blocks before I'm short even more.

Part of the problem may be that I didn't get started on the RRCB step to make the red/neutral HSTs until almost Christmas Eve. When I saw that the quilt needed 600 HSTs, I nearly threw in the towel. I'm glad I hung in there but its kind of disappointing to think you have enough made and then have to go back and make more.

I used to think I'd like an entire bed quilt made out of HSTs. I'm rethinking that but you know, I have a short memory so who knows what my quilting future will hold?!?

PhD fun!

Time for a new start on my quilting projects so I've joined the PhD Quilt Challenge!

PhD stands for Projects Half Done and I know I have more than these three but I'm challenging myself to finish the following projects:

These are some of the blocks for the selvage quilt. I've pieced more blocks but don't have enough done yet to finish the quilt. It will be twin sized, at least. Thanks to everyone who has donated selvages! I'm hoping I have enough now to finish but I may need more later.


My second PhD challenge quilt is this clamshell quilt which I want to make into a queen size quilt. Its all hand pieced and progress just depends on how much time I have to stitch by hand. During October, I was able to complete 7 blocks but it took me all of November to finish the next block and here it is January and I'm still working on the last one. Pease ignore all the mess to the left. My quilting room is in serious need of reorganization and decluttering!

I've been working on this Quiltville mystery quilt lately when I've managed to find time to spend in my quilting room. The quilt is called "Roll Roll Cotton Boll". I'm struggling to get those string blocks done and I'm in the middle of piecing the rows of HSTs. This Friday, Bonnie Hunter will reveal the next step which I think will be a pieced border. Help, I feel like I'm falling further and further behind! As with the other projects, just not enough time to piece lately.

I'm for sure not getting anywhere fast when I make mistakes like the one in the block above. I was so pleased I hadn't chopped off any of the points on the HSTs that I didn't notice for quite a while that something was wrong! How could I have missed that? I really hate to pick out seams but I fixed it and have been careful, so far, to not repeat that mistake.

I'll be checking back in weekly to let you know how I'm doing on the challenge. I want these quilts finished by the end of June but if they were done tomorrow, it would be even better! There's always another project lurking in my brain but why have they all been bed sized lately?!?

So many quilts, so little time.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very blessed and meaningful Christmas

and a Happy New Year!

I'll be back soon with news about my current quilting projects. I confess with only just a little encouragement from Linda, I began working on Quiltville's latest mystery quilt, "Roll, Roll Cotton Boll" (RRCB). Did you know we grow cotton in Kansas?

So, now I'm working on three bed size quilts at one time - the Selvage Quilt, the Clamshell Quilt and RRCB. I may need an accountability partner to help keep me on track to finish all of them!

Again, Merry Christmas and many thanks for reading my blog,

Mayleen

Some of my favorites

Our house will never look like something out of a magazine and we're happy with that! At Christmas, we like to "decorate" with things that are meaningful and have special memories for us. This is our piano which, unfortunately, no one plays anymore so I decorate it with some of my favorite Christmas things.

The framed, limited edition picture hanging on the wall is very special to us because I purchased it years ago as we were becoming more and more disappointed with the overcommercialization of Christmas. Week after week I admired this picture in the store but I wasn't able to afford to purchase it. Finally one of the clerks arranged that I could purchase it through layaway, something they normally did not do. I hope you can see the details in the picture but if not, try clicking on the photo to enlarge it. It's a boy and a girl surrounded by toys gazing into a nativity scene globe.

On the left is the Weihnachtspyramid we purchased when we lived in Germany 20+ years ago. We've set it up every year since then but rarely light the candles. Too afraid we might set the whole thing on fire! I need some advice though, how do you dust one of these? I'm seeing dust and someone has left a very noticeable thumbprint behind. I've tried using a clean, soft paintbrush to get between the little figurines but I invariably break one off and have to glue it back in. Any suggestions?

In the middle you might notice a kind of shabby looking creche. This was the nativity scene my parents owned and I remember my sister and I setting it up under the Christmas tree. I'm sure my parents purchased it secondhand because we rarely bought anything new. The stable is made of cardboard and there are still some wood shavings on the roof but its missing camels for the Wise Men and there is only one shepherd. A puzzler for me, although I think I know the answer, there are three angels?!? Obviously, two belong to something else but they all look like they could be one set. Whenever I see a nativity set for sale at an antique store, I always check if there are camels or shepherds which are the right size for my set but so far, I haven't found any.

And, last, in the very front is the book Take Joy! by Tasha Tudor opened to one of my favorite illustrations. For some reason, I just like the aqua color so much. I didn't know anything about Tasha Tudor until about ten years ago but now have several books about her and her gardens.

I enjoy baking cookies almost anytime of the year but I have several recipes I usually save especially for Christmas time. I've gathered them from magazines, books and friends so as I share them, I'll try to give credit to where its due. Here is the recipe I plan to bake today:

Poppy Seed Hearts

1 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Lemon Frosting

In a large bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds. Beat in sugar and salt until combined. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in poppy seeds.

Divide dough in half. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. (If chilled overnight, let dough stand at room temperature for 15-30 minutes before rolling and cutting.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough, half at a time, to a 1/4-inch thickness. Using 1 1/2-to 3 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutters, cut out the dough. Place cutouts on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool.

Spread or pipe Lemon Frosting onto cookies.

Lemon Frosting

In a medium bowl, beat 6 tablespoons butter, softened, with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add 1 cup powdered sugar, mixing well. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Gradually beat in another 1 cup powdered sugar. If necessary, stir in milk or lemon juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, to make a frosting of spreading or piping consistency.

This recipe is from the Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Cookies 2006 magazine, P. 103.

Enoy!

Merry Christmas!

... Or perhaps a better title to this blog post would be,

"What have I been doing instead of blogging for nearly a month?"

Life seemed to get a little busy just before Thanksgiving. My husband was quite unexpectedly hospitalized with Atrial Fibrillation, no past history of heart issues. He's now on medication and doing much better. The day after he came home from the hospital, I received a letter from my doctor telling me I needed a repeat mammogram. Thank you to all of you who were praying for me, the second mammogram was clear! Since then there have been several more routine end of the year appointments to keep us busy.

Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to sew/quilt. In fact, yesterday was the first time I'd been able to sew in over 3 weeks. With the help of my family, I finally finished decorating for Christmas today. The picture above was taken in our entryway. I purchased the Drunkard's Path quilt but did make the table runner. I'm in the process of writing notes for Christmas cards, have done a little baking and the shopping is almost done so perhaps I'm making progress!

I'll blog again soon about the snail's pace progress I'm making on the clamshells and the selvage quilt. And, I'd like to share some special Christmas decorations and memories. Be back soon!