Snowman Quotes & RRCB boo-boos

We got another six inches of snow yesterday making the total accumulation so far about 30 inches. By the time I got outside to shovel and use the snow blower it had just started to turn into a light drizzle so it looks like it will be an icy mess if the temps drop overnight.  

I thought I’d write an update on my RRCB progress and let you know what other “quilty pleasures” I’ve been enjoying lately. LOL

I got all of my pieced blocks done and I’m in the process of squaring them up because I’ve been struggling all along  with getting an accurate 1/4 inch seam allowance on my machine.

Not to belabor the point but I’ve re-read my machine’s manual and every tutorial that I can find on accurate piecing.  I’ve bought a seam guide and special foot and my machine is still not sewing a consistent 1/4 inch seam.  I really think the problem is that the snap on feet have too much “wiggle room”. 

Anyway, I ended up with extra blocks, and I can’t figure out why because I did count my squares and hst’s,  but it’s a good thing since a few of the others are way less than 11”. 

After I finished the last of the saw tooth borders, I went back to Bonnie’s website to check on the assembly directions and realized that I made a serious “boo-boo”. I sewed all of the string-pieced blocks together, except for the four corner triangles.  In my zealousness to have everything fit together perfectly I squared all of them up too!  So now I’m not sure they’ll even fit,  if I can remove the stitching.  Did I mention that I double-sewed them?   

My dilemma now is whether to make more string blocks and if I do they probably will look odd and won’t match the others because I used most of my neutral scrap strings and I’ll have to cut new ones out of FQ’s.

While I’m still sorting THAT out,  I laid out SOME of the blocks on the floor to see how they looked and all I can say is WOW—this is going to be a very large quilt.  It’s already huge without the borders!  

So there you have my update on RRCB!  I’m determined to get this done…but…I’ve been living with this QIP (quilt in progress) for a month now and need some “distance”.  LOL

 

 

 

What better way to create distance than to go shopping!

So last Tuesday before the big storm hit I headed out for a quick trip to the store –you know I needed milk and bread and accidentally stumbled on a great 40% off inventory sale at a tiny quilt shop, that I drive by occasionally.  I went in thinking I’d treat myself to ONE fat quarter and this is what I came home with!  I guess I thought I’d be snowbound for the rest of the winter.  To be honest not all of this came from that one shop,   I made several stops that day—you know, for “essentials”.

I have some V-Day projects in mind for the pinks and reds.   Don’t you just love the coffee and bagel fabric on the right?  I can see some cute mug rugs made out of that.  The snowman wall hanging is a little larger than I thought (I should’ve read the pattern more carefully) but it’s constructed of squares and rectangles so I think I can reduce the size easily enough.

Lately, I’ve been interested in mug rugs so I thought I’d practice making one and maybe enter the contest over on Madame Samm’s blog.   I’ve been low on inspiration, especially after seeing the other great contest entries, then I found this mug for 49 cents at Goodwill.   Of course it’s made in China,  but it’s tall and cute and it gave  me an idea for my mug rug so  I sketched it out and fused the pieces.  I think this will be a birthday gift for a friend who collects snowmen and has a green kitchen.

This is as far I’ve gotten with it, I need to applique it down and  I’m thinking it needs something else—maybe a snowman quote?  Do snowman give quotes?   So silly me googled “snowman quotes” and who knew that there are such things.  Anyway, I found what I thought is the perfect sentiment to embroider on this mug rug and I’ll share it with you when it’s finished.  I’m thinking of adding some string piecing to the left of the snow guy but if you have other suggestions, I’d love for you to comment, just realize that my artistic ability is limited, OK? 

So speaking of snowmen…while I was at Goodwill for the after Christmas clearance,  I spotted these two cuties and for 50 cents each, they had to come home with me.  I’m planning to give one to each of my girls.

I know my younger daughter will like them because they’re small and because she has been collecting vintage Xmas ornaments.

I’m hoping that DD#1 will like them as well.

Both still light up.  I replaced one bulb and I think they could both use re-wiring, because the plugs don’t have the ground thing.  The one on the right was made right here in New England—imagine the jobs that were lost when that company closed down?    The one on the left was made in Japan a little later, I think.  Both are in great shape for their age and small about eleven inches.  Wouldn’t they look cute on a buffet?