Diamonds and more diamonds

 I cut out some more diamonds yesterday. They would be pretty as stars too!

 I've cut everything I have right now, so not sure if I will need more or not. For each block you need 1 dark, 3 medium, 4 light, and 1 light/medium. Since I'm not sure about where I'm using some of them, I just cut out strips and cut them into diamonds.

I paired them up to make blocks and started sewing them together last night. I have enough cut for 2 of each set of fabrics. I have leftovers, so might go back later and re-pair them with other fabrics. Or just sew them together for something else. These are ready to be sewn into blocks.

I am really having fun with this project. Hope to get some blocks done today.

The sun is shining for the first time all weekend. I want to get the rest of my plants in the pots today. I have to plant the garden too, but might have to let it dry out a bit first.

More diamonds

A few weeks ago I started cutting  diamonds to make 9 patch diamond blocks. The pattern is St Marks and is in Kaffe Fassett's book Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts. The past few weeks have been busy with classes, packing at school and other not so fun things, so I haven't gotten too much sewing done. I did manage to get a few more diamonds cut, though. Here are a few of the groups that MIGHT go together.

 For this quilt, you need to have dark, medium, light and a light/medium. Of course. figuring out dark and light is pretty easy, though a lot depends on what it is next to. But those mediums are tricky sometimes. I picked out a pile of fabrics to cut, and after I cut and played with some of the mediums, I decided they were lights. I also decided that some of them might be too busy, too much variation of color in one diamond. So even though some of the colors were medium, it was too busy to tell.

 Here are some more I cut. I decided I need to get some more mediums, some that don't have a lot of colors in each fabric.More tone on tone.

I found a few yesterday...  I ended up getting a few darks too.

The orange and white polka dots? They are just for fun...I couldn't resist.

I worked most of the day yesterday recovering and rehanging the fabric boards on the wall in the classroom at the store. They look so much better. I forgot to take my camera, but will take some pix soon.  I don't have any classes until the Twisterweave Mystery class begins on June 11, but I might run in just to take some pix!

UFO Saturday and a whole lot of sewing!

 There is always lots of sewing on UFO Saturdays. Everyone brings a project to work on. Elsie brought her almost finished puzzle quilt. She worked on another project, but wanted us to see it.

 Diana finished not one, but 2 blocks from her Sampler Club, so she was very happy! Her quilt is all in reds, blacks and grays.

 Laura is working on her Sampler Club quilt too. She is using Asian fabrics.

 Dianne was also working on her Sampler quilt...her block has a flower center.

Kim is making the pieced border for a BOM she did from a local quilt shop. It is a lot of work, but will be so pretty when finished.

I am still packing at school. We ran out of boxes for a day, so I worked on some furniture yesterday. Took apart some metal shelving, then had to figure out how to ready it for the move. I also cleaned out the last of the closets and cupboards. Not very exciting, but it's done now. We got boxes in so today will be back to packing books.

A new building...a new library....moving....

I have been busy for the past week packing up books and other things. Our school building is getting ready to be renovated next year, so we have to move to another building while this is taking place. The whole school!

 After much cleaning out and getting rid of old stuff, I started packing books last week.

Lots of stuff. I packed 70 boxes today. Not sure how many in all. Not sure I want to know.

 There are over 12,000 books, plus other odds and ends of things that need to move. I couldn't tell you how many books I've packed, but I think I'm about 2/3 finished.

 I'm still getting books back from students and teachers. As of this afternoon, I have about 180 books that are still checked out. ( I love my computer program that tells all!)

 The renovated library will be really nice, so I 'm trying not to think about the fact that I have to unpack next fall, and then do it all again next spring!

Our kids get out of school on Friday, I have to work next Tuesday, too and then summer break!

Spring, ants and Luna...

 I received some awesome Mother's Day gifts this year, among them this bag. Now if you haven't heard of Luna the Fashion Kitty, you might want to go check her out. She is pretty famous as a fashionista and even has her own facebook page. There are some utube videos of her as well. In fact, there seems to be a whole underworld of pets on facebook and utube. Interesting!

I have been working on my flowers and garden a little here and there. I have some flowers planted now and the garden almost ready for tomatoes. I bought them a few weeks ago, but knew I wouldn't have time to plant them so planted them in a pot until I did. Otherwise they would be dead by now because I would've forgotten to water them. They are doing well. We have had rain the past few days so everything looks good. 

I am having my usual springtime battle with ants in the kitchen. It is so frustrating. He sprays outside, I put traps inside, yet we still get them every spring. I put out ant traps a few weeks ago, and hadn't seen any until yesterday so thought that maybe I got them as they came in. No such luck.  So put out a 2nd kind of trap, so we'll see if that helps. Any tips, I'm listening.

A finish and a couple more puzzles

 It is always fun to see the quilts that students in my classes have finished. Jane brought her Spinning Hexagons to class the other night. She plans on making another one for a gift.

 I taught the 3rd and final Jigsaw Puzzle quilt class last Saturday. It was fun. One of the ladies was a beginner and she was so excited to be quilting! .

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 We used some pieces of flannel backed tablecloth to lay out the unsewn puzzle pieces, then rolled them up so they could take them home to finish. 

Today is UFO Saturday. It is always fun to see what everyone is working on...plus always a lot of chatter too!

Fun weekend and new quilts!

I hope every one had a great Mother's Day. My nephew is graduating this year, and his party was Sat. night. He lives in my hometown, so I stayed overnight and celebrated Mother's Day with my mom, daughter,  and other family members. It was a great weekend!

The beginners have one more class and their quilts will be finished. Last Thursday night we layered and tied. This week they will learn how to make and sew on their binding.

 The More Peas in a Pod quilts turned out so cute and I think they learned a bit about color from each other as well!

 Saturday was a great day to learn how make your hexagons spin. After a rocky start, the hexagons just seemed to take off.

 The chose such pretty colors.

 Dianne has a flower in the center of her hexagon.

I think this is so much fun I might have to try it again this summer. You can make this as big or small as you want for tabletoppers and wallhangings, or make several and sew them together for a quilt. I really love to try new things, don't you?

A mystery unveiled.......

 Well, sort of...part of it, that is. This is the back of the Twisterweave Mystery quilt. My version of this quilt is throw size, so didn't take too long to quilt. I have written the pattern so that twin and queen size can be made as well.

 A close-up of the large floral.

I really like how this panto blends in with and enhances the floral print on the back and border. Now to get it bound. Soon.
Sorry, not ready to let you see the mystery yet....you have to wait for the class!

 I sewed the pieced diamonds that I cut out on Saturday together. These are fun to make....can't wait to get some more cut out.

I spent sort of a lazy evening tonight....mostly watching tv.

Taking pictures at night isn't a good idea at my house.

A teeny tiny Jigsaw Puzzle quilt and a package in the mail!

 Darlis stopped in the other day with her Jigsaw Puzzle quilt made with teeny tiny pieces.....there are somewhere in the vicinity of 500 puzzle pieces. She used some 1" strips she had purchased online.

 My winnings came from Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works. They are so pretty....not sure what I will do with them yet....for now just admire!

 I love the scrolls and colors.

It is so much fun to win! Thanks Jackie!

I finished quilting the Twisterweave Mystery Quilt Sunday. This was the first time I used this panto. I love how it quilted. Some pictures soon.

Tonight I finished sewing together the 12 diamonds I cut on Saturday. I like them. Now need to cut out some more!

Diamonds Forever class

The Diamonds Forever class went well yesterday. The class was small so as they cut their diamonds, I cut and played around with some smaller diamonds from another pattern in the book Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilt by Kaffe Fassett. This quilt is called St. Marks and uses 9 diamonds to form a larger diamond with a bit of a 3D effect. I played around with different settings for the 3 sets of colors I had cut, so we could could see what could be done with this quilt. I only took this one picture, however! The quilt in the book shows a random setting, but I think placing them in rows looks nice too.

 Debi found lots and lots of floral prints for her version....so pretty and springy!

Carol is using rich batiks and prints. Hers will be very rich in color.

As you can see, their quilts will be spectacular as well. I still want to make another one of these quilt out of asian prints...wouldn't that be gorgeous?

Darlis stopped in yesterday with her teeny tiny puzzle piece quilt...I will post a picture later.

It looks like it will be a gorgeous day outside today.....the lilacs are starting to bloom, so I brought a few in last night to bring the smell inside. I want to finish quilting the Twisterweave Mystery quilt today, but might have to take some time to go pick out flowers too...it's just that kind of day!