DIY Jelly Roll Quilt Along.

I am enjoying quilting along with Christa from her blog www.christaquilts.com  She has started this quilt-along using Jelly rolls.  I am using Moda's Honey Bun - Nostalgia jelly roll collection by Aprl Comell in 1 1/2" strips instead of the 2 1/2" strips that she is using so my quilt will be much smaller than hers, so it will be a mini version.  I have sewing my strips together, cutting them and sewing the blocks together.  I will upload some pictures a little later on today.  Check out my Quilting & Sewing Arts Studio to follow my progress.  Here are some pictures of my work

what a frustrating morning!

Wow it has been a frustrating morning and it's not even noon yet.  I have been trying to sign into one of my debit cart accts but forgot my username or password.  well after several try's and checking my email to help link up my account several times. no email has come thru...well I called the bank and now it will be 48 hrs before  I can reset anything because they have to check out why I am not reciving any emails from them. 
Then - on Sat I got gas and was double charged for my purchase so I called the gas company and they said that the 1st charge was voided and it should be showing up on my card but my card is telling me i was charged twice so my balance is low.  well we called the card co and the gas co is going to fax over info so hopefully I will be able to use my card with the $ released back to me.  after all $32 is a lot of money to be paid twice for gas.   so that might take another 48 hrs to resolve.... Oh! Boy!  

My venture into scrappy blocks

Today I made my 1st scrappy block, inspired by all of my scraps on hand - It has been fun and I did post a small tutorial on my Blog Quilting and Sewing Arts Studio.  so head on over to see it.

The Bang!

I woke up this morning with a start.  A BIG Bang rang Thur my sleepy consciousness.  a Thunder storm and a very near lightning strike...wow!  It was about 8am and my TV was on!  Now I do remember turning it off last night before bedtime???????  Oh! my poor cat.  she must have been at her food bowl when it came because it was in disarray, and she was approaching it VERY carefully.  lol - I straightened out her place mat and bowl and gave her fresh water but here it is 2 hrs later and she is still approaching her bowl with the most ginger of steps - poor kitty.

Quite a day for bloging and sewing!

Today I shared on my blog Quilting and Sewing Arts Studio about my Sewing machine Gear - no sew pin cusions and about organizing my scraps of Bits and Pieces so do check them out and let me know what you think.  I have started to organize my scraps better after reading "Sunday Morning Quilts" written by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison. They both have blogs so if you click on thier names the link will take you there.

Working on my "Minnesota Hotdish" quilt top today

 Today I continue to work on my quilt top and am very pleased at how it is coming together.  It began as an idea in color, then picking a pattern, buying the fabrics then cutting and piecing the blocks together and finally arranging them in blocks of 4. (I did this so that the one directional print I have will be going in the right direction when the top is pieced together. 

This is my directional print.  Birds.  I do like the effect it has.  Today I was at my monthly crafting gathering at my community center and 2 of the ladies were hand quilting.  I got a good tip from my friend Jean.  She draws her quilting pattern on each strip or block before piecing it together with a pencil.  Wow! what a great tip so I thought I might try that by doing it on my completed blocks of 4.  I already had been thinking about what I wanted in each center so now to decide on a pattern.  I just love to get together with other crafters and share information.  Tomorrow is my quilting group at the "Pointe" and I can't wait to show them my progress on this quilt.

A great day for quilting and bloging

Getting Ready to Strip Piece my blocks

"Minnesota Hot-Dish"

It was cooler out this morning as I sat on my screened in porch around 6am having my breakfast and coffee. I love this early am time to myself. there was a gentle breeze making my windchimes tinkle and the tall grass outside my porch sway as the birds woke up. My nieghbor hood is quiet with hardly a stir unlike my neighbors off my back patio who are already leaving for work. After breakfast I find myself in my studio working on my latest quilt, it is blue, white and tan. I have 40 - 9" blocks made so far with only 40 more blocks to go before I can piece my top together. My kitty "honey" comes in from the porch to visit me and crawls behind my sewing machines to cuddle on the floor while I strip piece these blocks together .
After finishing another 20 blocks strip piecing and ironing them I took a nap, checked out other blogs on the computer and looked at pintrest, I also checked Craftsy on the block of the month class. This month of July she was doing a dresden plate block. It looked fairly simple and I thing I might try one later today so I printed out the template and pasted it on some stiff carboard.
After Lunch I checked out this blog: Oh, Franson by Elizabeth Hartman who has a quilt "Sparkle Punch" that is featured in July/August 2012 of "Love of Quilting Magazine" by Fons & Porter. Elizabeth Hartman is a self-taught quilter from Portland, Oregon and Author of The Practical Guide to Patchwork. Modern Patchwork: 12 Quilts to Take You Beyond the Basics