Ha-CHHOOO-ppy New Year, Ya'll

It's always a good thing to get a cold out of the way early in the year.... so I started yesterday. Scratchy back of the throat. Slept horribly last night and awake with achy joints and neck muscles. Sinus blockage...... yeah, me!

Well, all is not gloomy. As I suffered the throat itch and soothed it with lozenges, I finished the Eleanor Burns Victory quilt-top.

I think it came out very nice...... I will have to stop and think how I will do the quilting part of it.

Today, slowly, I will put on the machine the seasons quilt because I would really like to hang it over the sofa. It is too small to use on a bed and too big to have draped on the back of a sofa. But a pretty good size to hang on this largish wall with nothing on it at the moment.

Oh NO!!!! I just read in the book that this quilt should measure 88" across the top. I might not be able to do the quilting....... hmmmmm...... change of plans?

Ta-Da!!!! Not really

MILES to go before I quilt!

Here is the Victory quilt assembled, before the outer borders are added and all the swagging appliqued down. It's BIG! I think when all is done, it might just be our next bed quilt!

Q down at the bottom, keeping me company in the wee hours of the morning.

12 Eggs in 5 Days

At this rate, we'll be swimming in eggs!
Yuck!

Yesterday we spent several hours burning 5 piles of tree trash and other wood John had dragged out of the triangle last year. This is the second or third burn we've worked on and as you can see form the photo, we have a ways to go.

But it's getting there. What you don't see is how little of all that is left. That's sort of a In the Middle of, not a Before or After shot.

And hanging around back there beside the run gave me a chance to "observe" the chickens and their behavior. The two Wyandottes were fluttering in and out of the runs and generally hang out. The other three wandered in and out of their newly cleaned coop as if to pass judgment on our housekeeping skills. Q kept wandering in and out as well. I had to keep my eye on her. Alot of wandering around, if you ask me.

It was a beautiful day to be out there and I pottered about in the garden itself, making mental notes of where I'd like to plant what when the time finally comes around again. It is a mistake to be lulled into thinking spring is upon us. We can have a freeze into March up here. Apparently.

We harvested the first brussell sprouts. They are quite small but flavorful. And along with kale, shallot greens, carrots and lettuce, we used 6 of our egg-take to make this meal:

Yes those are our pickled jalapenos! Sweet and sour.

Below you find 4 more blocks for the Victory quilt from Eleanor Burns. They are turning out beautifully, especially as I read the instructions more closely. I recommend this to anyone reading. If instructions are included in a project, it behooves one to actually read them and not assume being in the same room is sufficient.

Bride's Bouquet, Hope of Hartford
Army Star and Propeller

I've lost track of how many are left to make before I begin assembling the quilt. Go on, click on the pic and check out the "points". I am rather pleased with the result take my time accomplishes.

Victory Quilt

I started this with a post back in August.

I am going to show all the the blocks I have made and will try to keep this updating as I go along.

First, I'd like to mention that making the blocks is much fun. MOST of them are coming together exactly to size and the one, the only one so far, that didn't is still up in the air as to why. I'll get to that later.
Also, I am not listing them in any order, just however they appear when I UL the image to blogger.

But here is the "Radio Windmill"

I had to unsew and resew the center twice to get the points to meet. They are not perfect. There is a lot of bias going on in the block. Now, interestingly, EB says this one is a Beginner block and I would have to disagree. It isn't difficult but that bias stretch makes it a tad more challenging to join up than straight, simple on-weave piecing.

"Fala", how cute is he?

The first block in the book is "Roosevelt's Necktie" and I didn't find it interesting at all. (There's another one of the 20 featured in the book that I will give a pass on as well. You'll have to read on to find out which that might be.) So I decided I'd start by doing the applique Fala. There's a little piecing but it's mostly applique. And he is NOT finished at this time. There is a little more embellishment to do on him before he's complete. But I like him. He was fun.
"Comfort Quilt" - Easy

This SHOULD be level easy. It is. Very. and I like the simplicity. Teresa Varnes' large version of this quilt using the block repeatedly with echoing sashing is super. That's in the book.

BTW, it's a terrific book for ANYONE who is keen to try a "Block of the Month" but doesn't want to join a shop's offering. I work at a shop that has several wonderful BOMs every year and I usually take part in at least one but this is a solo BOM. I am making it at my own speed and if I choose to put it away and focus attention elsewhere, I know it's there waiting for my return.

Okay, Back to work.... "Stars and Stripes"

When I made this yesterday, I found that the center, the stripes, measured out 1/2" too long and I fretted over where I went wrong. I found another blogger, Lillian's Cupboard, who has completed the whole quilt and the back is a work of art. Go Look and scroll down. The Cupboard is a fun blog, great looking recipes and instruction. Give it shot!

Anyway, upon rereading the instructions, I see EB has this covered.... if the block measures more than 4 1/2" wide, trim the excess. Right, try to remember that in the future, CT.

Now it comes together exceedingly well. BUT I don't like how anemic my block turned out, and until I get all the blocks finished, I will not remake it. It might turn out to be exactly what the quilt needs when I start to lay it out. (hey, a girl can dream)

"Star Spangled Banner"

This one is not finished either. The solid bits will each have an appliqued 4 point star, hence the "star" part of the title. But I am waiting for a new product to arrive in the shop. It's a spray-on version of steam-a-seam, 606, and I am keep to give it a go.

"Sky Rocket"

This one was fun; although it looks complicated, it came together brilliantly. It's categorized as a 3 Star difficulty level and I don't get that at all. Go figure.

"Silent Star"

Eleanor Burns version had green outer corners and my quilt will have NO green at all. I think the yellow stars work well, I love the name of this one.

"Signal Lights"

I love the way it turned out but alas, it's 1/2" too small. This one must be remade and that has to wait til the last block is complete. I don't know what fabrics I will have left and that brings me to this paragraph:

Lessons learned:
1. READ the instructions!
2. UNDERSTAND the instructions.
3. BUY FABRIC YOU WANT TO HAVE ON HAND when you need it as soon as you see it! When I started collecting the fabric for this quilt MONTHS ago , I wanted to use a super great red stripe and that dark blue with stars as the outer border swags. That was going to be months away, but we had so much on the bolts I thought, heck I'll get that another day. WRONG! Epic fail on my part. I went to the shelf last week to take off 2 yards and the BOLT was gone. poof.
Tracking it down on the internet took hours, no exaggeration, and I did get 2.5 yards ordered. But I was starting to sweat.

I'm fairly certain that list will grow as I proceed to the end.

Eleanor Burns Victory Quilt

I have now completed 9 blocks for the quilt and have hit the first sign of trouble. Appropriately named, Signal Lights.

I followed the instructions precisely and ended up with a 12" unfinished block. Every other block has been perfect. I will try again to see if it was in the cutting. I rather doubt this because the block is made up of lots of pieces. If I had cut anything off size, it would have revealed itself when I did the sewing.

So THIS NEXT time, when I make it, I will use a realscant quarter inch seam allowance and see if that helps to stretch it to the full 12 1/2" block.

We Love Quilts

Of course we do and here is a site with the name!

Please go register to (hopefully) win an autographed book by the industrious Eleanor Burns and check out the website itself. It's an awesome and inspiring way to spend the afternoon.

You can also see Eleanor online at www.quiltinaday.com.

I have just finished picking fabric for a quilt by her out of Victory Quilts by Eleanor Burns
and look forward to making it this fall. I had bought the book a year ago and took it with me to the Houston Quilt market in a hope and prayer that she would be there and I could ask for an autograph. Now, it's a HEAVY book and every day there was a loonnnnng one so you can see how much of an effort I made to get that signature but alas! I never saw her. She might not have even been there at all, for all I know. But I have been hankering to make it and Bright Hopes got the fabric that I wanted to use in it. Can't Wait!!!!