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Sunday, November 26, 2017

Leader & Ender Addict!

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How is your Leader & Ender project coming along?

Mine is slow and steady.

Generally I am fighting to finish any designated Leader & Ender project way past the July release of the NEXT one.

I do what I can through the year to legitimately work on these as “real” Leader & Ender projects until it just gets to the point where I have got to push it forward for a finish, and end up using a second Leader & Ender to finish the first!

That was the case with this year’s Checkerboard Rails release.  My Hourglass Leader & Ender Challenge was not complete yet, so I pushed it into hyper-drive and finished it using the 4-patches from this year’s challenge as Leaders & Enders for the process.

Now that some other irons are out of the fire, I’m moving ahead some other projects-in-progress to now get the Checkerboard Rails closer to a finish. ( I shared the Scrap Basket blocks in yesterday’s post.  Did you see it?)

We’ve got time.  It's not a race. This challenge doesn’t end until the first week of July.

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4-patches at the ready!

I made a lot of progress on these 4-patches during the making of On Ringo Lake.  SHORT chains while chain piecing helped make hundreds of these 4-patches, and then helped them further along with stitching them into sets of 3. (Remember to pay attention to which way your 4-patches turn when making these blocks!)

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Strips in baskets, and 4-patches in 3s!

This is going to be a long process – but just keeping these on the side while I work on other things will turn this quickly into a quilt I am already loving.

Oh, the scraps this is using!  Some of these fabrics are so ugly they make me laugh!  But when you cut something 1 1/2’’ x 6 1/2’’ – by the time it finishes in the quilt all you see is COLOR. 

And it’s a good thing that the scraps are unending – because The Hubster has asked that this quilt go on the king-sized master bed at home.

KING-SIZE?!  Yes, king-size.

The double 9 patch quilt that is on the bed now was made in 1999-2000, with the blocks coming from a block swap with ladies I met after just moving to Sulphur Springs, Texas.  It’s hard to believe that quilt has been on our bed for coming on 18 years.  There are holes where fabric has torn and the batting is showing through.  It has faded and gone fairly flat after almost 2 decades of constant use.

“We need a new quilt for that bed” he said.  Who am I to disagree?

Last night I counted the number of blocks I have to date.  I’m not even 25% there.

I counted the number of 4-patches still required.  I need 738 more.  (!!!)  But I rarely count, I just sew. Pin units into sets of 10, bagging them up by 100s….I’ll get there.

And one at a time, these units will be completed in between the chains of working on other projects.  And if I keep my chains fairly short, I’ll be able to sew more of them.

There is no shortage of scraps, and I’m happy to make a quilt that can be used, that has a purpose – perhaps we’ll sleep under it for the NEXT 2 decades before I need to make another king-sized quilt.

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The mirror was hung above the dresser in the master bedroom at the cabin!

They look as if they were meant to go together all along.  I’m sad to leave the cabin this morning, but I’ll be back up mid-December and I’ll pick up where I left off.

And that includes evenings of stitching on this:

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Moving the hoop, one section at a time!

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Saying hello to each block as I quilt!

Is this block my favorite?

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Or maybe it’s this one?

We finished up Stranger Things, season 2 on Netflix.  Such a fun show!  And they left it fairly open ended so there HAS to be a season 3.  It’s just going to be hard to wait all the way until next Halloween for it to be released.  That’s the downside of binging, isn’t it?

For those who are new (and there are many of you! Thank you for following along!) I currently have two hand quilting projects in progress.  One at home, and one up here at the cabin.  This pink & brown Jane Stickle variation has been on-going for more than 10 years.  Hopefully THIS is the year that sees the hand quilting finished. 

As far as off-and-on projects go, this one has been mostly OFF.  I just quilt on it while at the cabin.

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The sunrises have been magnificent -

I miss the green of leaves.  I’m not a fan of winter and bare trees.  But there is a beauty to each season, and the sunrises make it all worth it.  I think there is another life lesson in that, don’t you?  In the various seasons of our lives we long for the “earlier days” but there are so many things to be grateful for in the older seasons, too.

I’m packing it up here – I’ll hopefully be home somewhere around noon.  There are two more mystery clues to write before I leave for Arizona/Oregon on Tuesday.  I need to get the trunk show re-packed and prepare for that trip.

Tomorrow is our first Mystery Monday Link-Up for On Ringo Lake.  I’m so looking forward to seeing what you have to share!

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Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Exactly! And don't you love the way things turned out for this very fun album block quilt and the meager scrap bag it came from?

Such a great example! None of these blocks are perfect, but the whole couldn't be more perfect!

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone!


12 comments:

  1. Good Morning Bonnie, thanks for sharing Breakfast time with me. I have a question about your Leader Ender Quilt... will you lay out all the squares for a KING size quilt to keep all of one color from being concentrated in one area or just grab and stitch? Thanks for all of your posts! Have safe travels today!

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  2. Ready for the Link-up on Monday. The mini 9-patches were fun. I sewed a few on my Treadle. My BERNINA was much faster and is humming since her Spa week. AZ is Beautiful this time of year. Hope your trip is 1st class all the way.

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  3. His your hand quilting is looking so beautiful, I’m loving the leader ender blocks they are gorgeous I’ve stitched some together and I just love the effect.
    Hope you have a safe journey home
    Love and quilty hugs
    Anne xx

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  4. Those photos you shared last week of the big stacks of color-family strips you cut for the L/E blocks, and your baskets of hundreds of lined up strips... happy. I love neat stacks of cut units full of potential almost as much as I love the finished results. ;) It will be fun to watch this one grow.

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  5. Love your leader enders! Hugs to you and your family, and safe travels!

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  6. that mirror is just perfect--I love that curved frame--just my style...Hugs, Julierose

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  7. I love your philosophy of long term projects.

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  8. The mirror is perfect for that chest. Love all the antiques you have used to furnish your cabin. Thank you for all you do for the quilting world. Nancy A: rangerer@sbcglobal.net

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  9. I Love that saying "Lets take our" etc..just beautiful...I Love this time of year.
    Your Baskets are Gorgeous Bonnie! That will be a stunning quilt!

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  10. I am also not a fan of bare trees, but it does allow us to see the sunrise. When the leaves are on it really blocks out the sunrises. There is beauty in every season--although I confess to running to the southwest for 3 months to shorten the Wisconsin winter. I do travel with 2 sewing machines in our motorhome. One top of the line electric, and the other a ~1900 handcrank.

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  11. Your dresser and mirror are just perfect together! So pretty!

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  12. I am slowly making progress on my rail fence leader ender for this year. My first one! I am only having three rails in mine because I am using the leftovers from the Texas braid quilt that just went to the longarmer. Haven't decided how I will set it yet though so I am making a variety of settings to see what I like best. It's my quilt so I can do whatever I want right? Thanks for being so generous with your time and the sharing of your creative ideas. I have done so many more quilts using all the timesaving tips you have provided for us! Happy Holidays to you and yours!

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