WIPs With Friends

I decided to work on a few things I needed to tidy up.  

So I cleaned up my room and began to work on cutting out more of my Ocean Waves quilt.  

Then my daughter called and plans changed. 

 She wanted me to sew a peacock diaper for Beep. 

 That consumed all of my Saturday afternoon. 

 I had her bring the old one so I had a pattern and we made a few modifications.  

I forgot to take any process shots but here it is in all it's glory. 

 We added velcro so will see how that works out.  Hopefully Beep will not be able to undo that.

This is how it goes on the bird.

 Here is Beep modeling her new diaper.

Next up was to make some baked egg rolls.  It was my first attempt at this.  

I think they could be rolled a bit tighter, which I did as I made more. 

 Overall they turned out well and were only 3 Smart Points each! 

 Recipe is from the Skinny Kitchen website and you can find it here.

I put on my new Valentine's leggings and life was good!

I made the binding for the Hallowedding quilt this weekend too.  It's all black. 

I made a couple of oven mitts but I can't show them as they are a surprise for a friend

 and she reads my blog.  

TRUST me when I say they are adorable! 

 I just need to put the bias binding on the bottoms of them.  

I am going to attempt a Open Wide bag for the same friend. 

 The free tutorial is on Noodlehead's blog.  

If I can figure out how to make them I will show you what I end up with.  

OK so what are you working on?  Join up with the link or use the #WIPsWithFriends.

~XOP~

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Meet The Newest Addition To the Family

Hubby and I were at the Sally Ann last night.  

It was 25% off for seniors (anyone over 55).  

You'll never guess what I happened to find.  

I am always on the look out for vintage sewing machines. 

 It seems most of the ones at the SA are in pretty rough shape and not usually Singers.  

I found a Model 66-16 Singer in a cabinet!!  

I was so thrilled.  

I have divested myself of three vintage machines to dae.

(to the vintage sewing machine man in Munith).  

Hubby said to go for it.  So I bought her and now she is mine!!!

Here are some photos I took in the store.  

She needs a foot pedal and power cord but those are easily obtained.  

Also a little TLC, but she is a beauty!!! 

 Made in 1952.

Have a great Thursday!!

~XOP~

WIPs With Friends

Seems to be that time of the week.  

What have you been working on? 

 I am still cutting out squares for my Ocean Waves quilt. 

 That seems to be all consuming for me at the moment. 

 I think I need to look at my "to do" list though and see what else I need to work on.  

As soon as all the squares are cut out, I want to cut out another quilt to work on.  

I think I will be using the OW quilt project as a leader/ender one for now. 

 I know my son would really like his Detroit sports quilt made.  

I have 3 chenille blankets to do so that's another couple I need to take care of. 

 I think I already have one basted, but that leaves 2 more and then all the sewing!! 

 One of the babies is due this week so I am fairly certain he will get the first one done. 

 If you want to see how to make your own chenille blanket check out my Tutorial page just under my header photo for the link, or click right here.

I was thinking about sewing but someone had other ideas.  So I stuck to cutting.  

My plan is to add some Tula Pink Neptune into my navy and white quilt so I dug out my Neptune.

It was easier than I thought to make those cuts and it feels GREAT to use the fabric I love!  

This dark navy Triton is by far my favorite in the line.  

Getting that deep indigo is so difficult!  

I wish Neptune was not so difficult (and expensive) to find, 

but I am certainly going to use some in this quilt!

So that about sums up what I plan on working on this week.  

Do you find that writing it down helps you get more done?

I think it helps me stay on track.

Your turn, what are you working on?

Share with the Inlinkz blue button and don't forget to use #WIPsWithFriends

~XOP~

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Quick Post

I just have a few minutes but wanted to share.  

Hubby and I made pasta from scratch last night for our dinner. 

 He also made some delicious chicken meatballs.  

He ground up one chicken breast and added some bread crumbs and an egg 

then baked them in the oven.  

If you have not made your own pasta you should give it a try.  It is pretty messy though!

I think we got almost as much on the floor as we made, LOL.

Here is what we got plus three more from a half recipe!  It was spaghetti.

Chicken meatballs under some Asiago cheese.  YUM!

Don't forget that tomorrow is WIPs With Friends day!  I hope you will be joining me.

~XOP~

Ocean Waves QAL Part 3

I hope you all are making progress in your cutting.  

I thought for those that may be ready to begin making their blocks I would do a post showing construction of the quarters needed to make the block. 

 It was kind of late last night so pardon the poor lighting!

First up is to sew your HST (or half square triangle) units. 

 There are a LOT of them! 

 I know that I like to sew some, trim some and put some together 

so that is what I will be showing here. 

 You can then go at your own pace as far as how quickly you want to put your blocks together. 

 I plan to have regular check-ins and show my progress, and would love it if you would link up and show everyone else how you are doing too!!

Alright, let's get down to construction, shall we?  

Since I am using navy and white fabrics I will refer to the white as my background.  

Your background may be different. 

 I am using navy for my second color and again yours may be different.

If you remember you should be cutting your background and colored squares at 3" for the HST units.  I sewed mine by sewing 1/4" on either side of the middle, and no I don't draw a line, I use the Clearly Perfect as you can see in this photo.

I sewed up six sets of HST units. They become 12 when cut apart.

Once I sewed them all, I cut them apart down the center. 

 I opened them up and pressed them to the dark side.

These are all my HST that I need to make an entire block.  Four sets of 12 HST

Next up came the trimming.  I LOVE using my 2.5" Bloc-Loc ruler to trim all my HST units. 

 I also use the heck out of my little 12" turning mat.

I centered my ruler over my HST, locking it into the seam and trimmed two sides, spun the mat,

 and trimmed the other 2 sides.

 The pile of trimmings sure pile up!  Wonder if the birds would use these for nesting in the spring?

Autumn was sleeping on the job!  To be fair, as I said earlier, it was late for both of us!

I really wanted to be able to do this post today though.

This is how one quarter of the block is laid out ready to sew.  

All of the blocks are sewn the same as this one.  

(Yes, trust me they really are)

 I did have a discussion with someone recently about the block construction.  

As you can see there are 12 HST for each quarter of the finished block.  

You are looking at 1/4 of an Ocean Waves block here. 

 In addition, there are 4 2.5" squares per 1/4 of the block.  

The math works out that for one Ocean Waves block you will need 48 HST units and 16 squares.  Please know this is certainly not the only way to construct an OW block, 

it is just the way I am choosing to do it.

OK, back to work.  

Next up, by row, I sewed together the first pair and the second pair in each row.  

I pressed the seam open. 

 I did this because I feel it makes matching the points easier 

when it comes time to sew the rows together.  

I then sewed the pairs together to form 4 rows.

Next up is sewing the rows together.  This can be slightly tricky.

  I tried to show in this photo that I put a pin at the point of the triangle. 

 This pin would go through the point on the triangle on the opposite side

 (see what I mean about ease of viewing?)  

I pinned each intersection and both ends. 

 So, I sewed row 1 ==>2 and row 3==>4.  Again I pressed open.  

You can see that the points matched up quite nicely!

Nest I sewed these two units together to form my final quarter of the block.

This was the second one I made last night. 

 It took me ~2.5 hours to make these 2 units. 

 I did have all my squares cut.  I just thought I would give you a time frame.

  I am not rushing, I fully intend to enjoy the process!

Once you have 4 of these units sewn

 it is time to sew them together to form the actual Ocean Waves block.

Please note in the photo the placement of the quarters to form the "circle".  

Also note that they really are the exact same units just rotated to form the actual block. 

 I do confess this is from a test block I had made previously though, as it was past my bedtime!

Once you have all four units you may sew the top two together and the bottom two together. 

 I pressed these seams open. 

 Then you will sew the top section to the bottom section.  

You now have one completed Ocean Waves block!!  

I am dying to see how everyone is progressing so please link up here and show me.

Don't forget to use the #OceanWavesQAL on social media too.

Have a fun and productive weekend!

~XOP~

Please link up your progress here using the blue "Inlinkz" button.

If you don't have a blog maybe leave a comment, so we can see who is playing along.

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WIPs With Friends

I am working on another baby quilt with my two friends, Robin and Judith. 

 This time the chosen pattern is called Legandary and it is by Elizabeth Hartman. 

 If you want a copy you can find one right here in her shop.

Now here is some history about this project.  

A woman we all work with is crazy about all Yeti (big foot included), 

so when I saw this pattern I knew this was the one to make for her! 

 They are having a baby girl and these colors are so masculine.  

I decided that I needed to make the Mama Big Foot in pink (with polka dots!) 

 We were all going to make green trees. 

 I cut my trees out. 

 Then I cut her out.  

Then I cut out all the background for the whole quilt.  

On Sunday I sewed her up and was so thrilled with how she turned out.

  I used a print from the Lizzy House Whisper Pallette for the background and I love it.

Next up was my first tree.  Also a Lizzy house print.  Which I probably need more of right?

I wanted to make all the trees,

 but decided I could really only make one more before it was my bedtime.  

I got to use my petite Henna Garden for this one.

I posted on IG several people said they would never have thought to make the Big Foot in pink.  

That's all I needed to get the wheels in my head turning about the forest. 

 I laid in bed tossing and turning when...

EUREKA! 

Why not make a rainbow forest? 

 So then I had to think about how many of each color 

and which one of us would make which color trees. 

(more not sleeping).  

Thankfully I know their stashes!  

So I chose the green (for obvious reasons) and took the orange (they don't like orange).  

I was so excited I could not sleep.  

It was after midnight.  I finally got up and texted them.  

Guess what? 

 Then I was able to get to sleep!!

I am looking forward to getting my orange trees made now. 

 One of my friends just had knee surgery yesterday so it may be awhile until I get her trees, but the baby is not due until April.

Your turn to share what you are working on.  

Anyone working on cutting more squares for the OW QAL? 

 That's on my list after the 2 orange trees.

~XOP~

Now it's your turn to link up your finishes here. 

 Remember that if you do post in the link up here

 you should post a link back to this post on your own blog too.

So now it's your turn to share what you are working on.  

Please use the linky to link up and share that you linked up to WIPs With Friends on your blog too.  If using Instagram please use the hashtag

#wipswithfriends.  

We can't wait to see what you are working on!

Use the blue Inllinkz button to link up and spread the word by linking back to this post!

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Ocean Waves QAL Check In

I thought, since we have had a couple of weeks since the start of the Ocean Waves QAL,

 I would see where everyone is at.  

If you missed the first post you can find it here.  

You should be cutting your squares for the quilt at this time.

I have cut a LOT of strips and am working on subcutting those into 3" squares.

I have ~12 blocks worth of the blue fabrics cut but 

need to get some of the white cut so I can sew a few.

As you can see my quilt inspector is quite unimpressed by my progress.  

Here is a view of the little squares all neatly stacked up!  

I want to cut some more of the other navy fabrics for some variety. 

 My plan was to make each 1/4 of my block out of the same navy fabrics.  

What I am finding is that I have some left overs from some of the strips.  

So now rather than waste those I am wondering if I should do some of them scrappy navy.  

What do you think?

Also I plan to incorporate some of the Neptune fabrics into a few of the blocks

 but have not cut that fabric yet (my Precious, haha).  

So, how are you all progressing on your cutting?  Anyone ready to sew yet? 

 I hope to get all my cutting done this week so that next week, as I am working on a baby quilt that I need to make, I can sew some HST as Leader and Ender blocks.

Time to "Link Up" and show us what you have so far. 

 Don't worry if it is only just the fabric, please show us that too!  

Wherever you are that's what you should show.  

No pressure at all.

  

~XOP~

You can click on the blue Inlinkz button and add your blog post to our link up, complete with photo!

Also use #oceanwavesQAL on Instagram to show your progress too.

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WIPs With Friends (the Thursday edition)

Sorry about missing yesterday.  I had cataract surgery on Tuesday and didn't think it was such a good idea to be on the computer on Wednesday.  I'm back and all went well so let's have a WIP progress today instead, ok?  I guess my eye counts as a WIP since it is getting back to a new normal now right?

This was me on the way to the doctor the day after the surgery.  

(you can see the sharpie dot above my left eye so they knew which eye to operate on).  

I still can't get that dot off!  Hope this photo doesn't scare anyone. 

 I am not allowed to use eye makeup for a week.

I did some work but not too much actually.  

As you all saw I did the Bumble pillow cover and that took most of my time.

 I worked on a block that I have had "in progress" for some time and 

got all the stitching around the applique finished.  

I can't show it as I am thinking about submitting it to the 100 Blocks magazine.  

It is super cute though. 

 I am trying to decide if I want to keep it instead and make a little wall hanging and submit that 

or send off the block.  

Without seeing it what would your vote be for?

OK so since I am so lame and have nothing else to share today, what are you working on?  Time to share via the linky.

~XOP~

Now it's your turn to link up your finishes here. 

 Remember that if you do post in the link up here

 you should post a link back to this post on your own blog too.

So now it's your turn to share what you are working on.  

Please use the linky to link up and share that you linked up to WIPs With Friends on your blog too.  If using Instagram please use the hashtag

#wipswithfriends.  

We can't wait to see what you are working on!

Use the blue Inllinkz button to link up and spread the word by linking back to this post!

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