Feline Friday and Birthday Cake - 7/17/20

It's a big day here at Casa Grande!!

 Not only did I finally get rid of that toe jam but it's also just 6 months until Momma has one of those "zero" birthdays, one that rhymes with nifty. Momma is hoping you can help her celebrate by making a block or two to help her make a birthday quilt!! She also hopes you will sign your Name/City/Sate/Country in the middle of the cake.

Momma knows the blocks are kinda small but they are just so darn cute. Truth be told she tried to make the block bigger for all y'all but the cutting sizes made for lots of naughty words so she stuck with the cute size. You're welcome.

Please know that Momma got the idea from Temecula Quilt Company who got the idea from an antique quilt.

Momma says you will need the following fabrics:

• Light (1.25" x 17" strip) - please use any White on White (WOW) fabric. You may wish to use a different or plain white for the center so that you can sign your name more easily.
• Dark (1.25" x 13" strip) - any fabric will do as this will be a scrappy quilt but if you must know - Momma's favorite color is purple and she really loves Grunge, batiks, Tula and hexies. But really, anything goes!

From the WOW strip cut:
(2) 7/8" squares
(2) 2" rectangles
(2) 1.75" rectangles
(2) 1.25" rectangles
(2) 1" rectangles and (1) 2.25" rectangle

From the dark strip cut:
(1) 1.25" rectangle
(1) 1.75" rectangle
(1) 2.75" rectangle
(2) 1" rectangles
(1) 4.25" rectangle

Use the tiny WOW squares to snowball the top of the cake.
I found I had to trim the block to 1.25" again after snowballing.

 

Assemble each row, pressing the snowball towards
the white,
 but all other rows towards the dark.

The block should be 4.25" unfinished.

Momma will share more blocks as the nifty day gets closer. She plans to make some extras for her non-quilting family & friends to sign. She's already got 3 cakes made and hasn't shared a one! Please let her know if you have questions.

Blocks can be sent to Sarah's Birthday Cakes, PO Box 26, Castile, NY 14427-0026.

Thank you!!!

PS - Can someone tell me how to attach a pdf? I will email it to anyone who asks...

Design Wall Monday - 3/10/14

Saturday was the 2nd half of my latest Quilting 101 class and I needed a sample to demonstrate adding flanges and bindings. I had this sample block when from when I was prepping for my birthday party so I decided to quilt it up quick to use in class. Now I'll finish the binding my machine and I have a nice little table topper. Oh, who am I kidding, the cats will sit on it more than I'll ever use it on the table...

I also completed another twisted hexie and my February BOM heart. I was a little worried about the choco fabric being too busy but it was my only choice as I couldn't find a coordinating fabric in my stash. In the end, I think it looks fine. They will both be 'finer' when they get a good pressing :)

And last but not least for my weekend report...Tomorrow is the official Bicentennial Launch Party for the town where I work. The party is at the Arts Council across the street from my office. There will be Congressional proclamations, quick speeches, lots of memorabilia on display, local historians to answer questions and we'll be selling our bicentennial calendars. What else does one need for a party? Refreshments of course!  Several of us were asked to make cookies so I whipped up my fav Molasses Krinkles. Molasses Crack would probably be more accurate since you can't eat just one. LOL.

Now to decide how many to keep at home for me...1 for the party, 2 for me...

Stupid setting triangles!

Who picked this design anyway??!!

This setting triangle and the center/similarly pieced square were the bane of my existence at retreat last weekend (pictures next week!).

I double checked the math and used my companion and easy angle rulers to cut the bits but the pieced sections are too long for the center purple on both the triangle and the square. I measured all the bits again and again, tweaking seams but I still couldn't get them to fit.

I finally threw the whole project into my bin and started working on my Celtic Solstice borders. The only part I didn't remeasure was the purple triangles/square - I'm saving that for another day. You know, whereas that was where most people would have started when having trouble with this block. Oh well!

Design Wall Monday

Sew...retreat #1 is over. Sadly, I neglected to take any pictures of the weekend - maybe this coming weekend when I help out again. I was able to spend a couple hours there Thursday after work and then late Saturday morning, overnight to late Sunday! Did I finish everything I brought with me or even work on everything? No but I think I made quite a bit of progress.

Over the course of the last week, I've finished 4 of these rosettes.

I made 8 more of these birthday blocks...I'm waiting on 1 more from a friend and then I have all 16 of these done.

I made 8 of these connector blocks. They probably look a little dull but I am going to put pieced hexie rosettes in the center. Next weekend I'll start work on the pieced setting triangles, center block and finish the pieced borders.

I also finally got back in to my leaderEnder basket blocks. Hard to get many done when everything can be chain pieced so I admit to cheating a little and just out and out piecing two of these. Promise not to tell!

And someone, altho Zorro shall remain nameless, was a little unhappy at my absence. I cringed Sunday morning when I remembered I hadn't locked up the box. It wasn't a lack of food issue as I had left out enough for 2 days (I was gone a whole 26 hours!) plus more "hidden" about the house that could be hunted down. The regular bowls were empty but the extra was barely eaten. I don't think any of this pile was even eaten so I'll go with Claudia's conclusion that he just needed the challenge. Someone is just too smart for his own britches!! Silly Dude....

Design Wall Monday and Celtic Solstice

Once again another busy weekend means I didn't do any sewing...other than hexies while watching Breaking Bad season 3 on DVD. What I did accomplish was more prep for the retreats coming the next 2 weekends.

In the left basket is the all essential chocolate (don't worry, I'll bring more snacks too). I also cut the tons of strips I'll need for my birthday quilt. I need to make 9 more pieced blocks, 8 simple background blocks and then I can work on the pieced borders. I think I'll work on the pieced setting triangles and center pieced block next weekend. I think I can do them with my Companion and Easy Angle rulers but I'll have to make sure.

In the right basket is a box of twisted hexie parts and parts to work on Celtic Solstice. I looked up pictures packing for last year's retreat and it looks like I'm hardly taking anything to work on this year. Of course, it's just that I am making blocks this year instead of putting blocks together. I am sure there will be more than plenty to keep me entertained. And if I'm really bored, I'll pick up another project when I run the whole 3 miles home to feed the kids.

I hope to work on these HSTs for Celtic Solstice this week - If get them all pressed I can take them to retreat too.

OMG - I almost forgot to announce that tomorrow is going to be our first Book Report linky party (name is in progress - any suggestions??). Some people are participating in reading challenges and some people are just reading whatever is on their nightstand or quilt book shelf. Please pop in and let us know what you are reading!