Planting

Getting my plants in and getting the pool ready. That’s my focus for the week!

EQ7 Lesson Continued

On today’s EQ blog, they have a mid-month lesson to continue from the previous block we learned to design.  Here are the modifications to that block.

Cool… I might need to rethink my color scheme. 

 

Thank you!

Thank you so much for all the positive comments on my hand quilting blog post earlier this week! I am always amazed at the kindness of quilters and the encouragement that they provide!

I am done with school. All of my finals are graded. All of my grades are turned in. We have graduation on Saturday. That’s always a load off my shoulders.

My next deadline for the Quiltmaker Scrap Squad is coming up here in three short weeks. I’ve done a few blocks here and there. I only need 13 because it’s a wall hanging on point. I got that project out and hung it on the design wall. It turns out that I have 9 blocks done. I cut out the pieces for the remaining four and I’m ready to go.

The blocks consist of one paper pieced 2.75″ section repeated 16 times. I have a little cheat sheet in front of me as I sew and I sew only one block at a time. I want to sew two blocks today and two tomorrow. Then I can work on the pieced setting triangles next week and get the quilt top put together.

That’s the plan.

Tomorrow night Bonnie Hunter is speaking at a local guild. I really want to go. They are charging $10 for non-members. I’d probably drop a ton on her books too if she has them there. I only own one book of hers but I’m sure I could be tempted to purchase more…. With very little arm twisting…

Hand Quilting Blog Hop

There’s a Facebook group and blog that celebrates hand quilting.  Since I’m trying to teach myself how to hand quilt, I joined the group.  Today is the first day of their “blog hop” where people can show their hand quilting work.  I don’t have a lot to show since I don’t do a lot of hand quilting!  But I can show the little bit that I’ve tried to do over the years.

I have a hand pieced hexagon quilt that just needs borders.

I pieced it using Inklingo.  I will applique it to the borders I think.

There’s this clam shell quilt wall hanging that’s been in the works forever.  It’s still in the works.  I think I should have stitched in the ditch because the 1/4″ outline quilting is making my applique edges lift up and I can now see the stitches that were hidden before.

I really enjoy big stitch quilting.  I worked on this fall wallhanging earlier in the year.  It’s become one of my favorites.

 

Another big stitch wall hanging from leftover blocks and a pillow.

I’m learning and having fun trying out different techniques.

EQ7

I really prefer EQ6 and when I received a new computer for Christmas, I installed that instead of the latest version – EQ7.  However, I recently thought I better bite the bullet and install my EQ7 upgrade because I found free tutorials on the EQ website that use EQ7.  Plus a lot of the subsidiary products EQ sells are only compatible with their latest version.

I completed the first lesson yesterday.  It was to design this block.

To make the corner parts, you used the grid tool.  I’ve never used that tool. It’s very useful.  The bizarre colors are my own – this is a very trendy color combination right now.  Next lesson is due up May 31st on their site.

Almost Finished

One more day of finals and some extra grading to do – then I’m done with the semester.  I’m looking forward to getting my summer started.  I want to get the inside and outside of the house in order.  I have two pressing quilts with deadlines that must be pieced in the month of May yet!  But besides that?

I’ve been hand quilting this wall hanging for quite a while.  I’ve been trying to do 15 minutes a day lately to get it done.  The quilting isn’t that good.  I’m not that good at small stitches.  But you only get better by PPP – practice, practice, practice.  So I’m practicing on this piece.

I’m shopping for some navy fabric for borders for my hexagon pieced quilt top.  I think I’ll applique the center onto the borders.  That seems to be the best option.  Once I’m done with that, I’ll baste it for my next big stitch project.  I won’t start that one til the fall though.

We are headed out to see “Oliver” (the play) today.

Scholastic Bowl

Last post about Scholastic Bowl – I promise! 

Last night was the Parents vs. 8th graders Scholastic Bowl match at my son’s school.  To set the stage, four of the seven parents that played have advanced degrees.  My oldest daughter also played and she has a two-year community college degree. 

The results?  Well, read on…

We were winning right off the bat.  (BTW, I studied on Sunday. I studied state and European country capitals.  I reviewed some online questions.  I went over my geometry formulas for areas and perimeters of weird shapes. I didn’t want to be embarrassed!)  The game started out with the parents winning by a lot – over 100 points.  I started to feel bad.  I was thinking, “We should stop answering the toss ups or wait a bit to give the kids a chance.”  But that’s hard to do.  Right when you realize you know the answer, you instinctively buzz in!  So we didn’t let up.  But those stinkers crept up on us!  They slowly closed the gap and pretty soon we were on the last question and we were TIED!  The coach and moderator said, “It’s tied.  What do you say we call it a draw?  End the game here.”  I agreed.  Most of the parents and kids said, “NO!”  They wanted a clear winner!  Last toss up was read.  Something to do with Middle East geography/history.  No chance I knew that!  An 8th grader did though and then they knew 3 of the 4 bonus questions – beating the parents by 25 points! 

It was a lot of fun.  We played for two hours and the time flew by.  The kids were laughing and having so much fun.  The adults were laughing and having so much fun!  (In our area, adults laughing and having fun without alcohol involved is rare.)  The kids are really a great group of girls and boys (young women and men, I should say).  They are comfortable around adults and comfortable with themselves.  They are confident in their knowledge.  In the regular season, the girls are a little hesitant to answer.  Not yesterday.  The girls captained the team and played great! 

The parents ended the night by saying, “When do you want to play next?  We want to do this every week!”