2012 February 21 — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Progress Report #2

February 21, 2012 · by JudyL

Here’s what was on the design wall this morning when I came to the sewing room.

After spending most of the day in the sewing room, here’s how I’m leaving it this evening. I’m happy to say that my seam ripper wasn’t touched all day!

Not sure if I’ll keep it up but the reporting definitely helped. More than once when I sat down at the computer to see what was new at The Loopy Ewe or at Fat Quarter Shop, I remembered that I should be sewing instead of looking for something to order so I got back to the sewing machine. I started the day with 8 blocks made and ended with 17 blocks made. I’d sure like to have this top done by the end of the week!!

· Filed Under: Quilting · 8 Comments

Pick a Pinwheel – Part 6

February 21, 2012 · by JudyL

Cut 4 strips each that are 2-1/2″ wide of the light and dark blue. Sew them together to make strip sets. Cut into 80 1-1/2″ segments.

Cut 80 1-1/2″ x 4-1/2 yellow rectangles and sew these to the top of the above segments.

Sew these strips to the pinwheels from Step 4. Make 20.

· Filed Under: Quilting · 1 Comment

The Party is Over

February 21, 2012 · by JudyL

Sunday night Vince said “I’ll make a deal with you”. I was thinking . . he’s going to keep washing dishes even after he realizes my finger is completely healed! He said “I’ll join Weight Watchers and will eat whatever you fix and will not question it and will not eat anything unless you give it to me.” I was kinda thinking . . if we’re making a deal, isn’t there supposed to be something in this for me? After thinking about it for a minute, I decided that if we both lose weight, that will be plenty for me.

Yesterday Vince joined Weight Watchers. We’ve done it before and had great results but through the years, we forget about healthy eating. Not only do I cook with too much butter and cream but we love cakes, cookies and ice cream. I believe Vince’s health scare last week got him motivated to lose weight and I need to lose too. I love using WW recipes because they’re mostly quick. Last night we had Rigatoni with Italian sausage and kale and it was delicious. We had a salad and steamed asparagus with it. Tonight we’re having a kind of Greek salad — grilled chicken, garbanza beans, cucumber, reduced fat feta and I can’t remember what else, but I’m looking forward to it.

I had two Dr. Peppers yesterday and drank a lot of water. I’ll get down to one Dr. Pepper and maybe none but that may take a week or so. Vince signed up and paid for a year. I’m thinking that by retreat time in 2013, I’ll be much thinner . . I hope so anyway.

· Filed Under: Cooking · 46 Comments

Mistake after Mistake

February 21, 2012 · by JudyL

How many times can you sew a block together incorrectly? More times than you can imagine! There’s a reason for everything! While at the retreat I planned to work on my February Color Palette Challenge piece. I got most of the block components made and even though I was aggravated with myself for not getting more done, I’m glad I didn’t.

Yesterday I made the first block and it turned out great. I made the second block and saw that a couple of the pieces were backwards so I ripped and flipped them around. Then I saw that I had some of the components backwards so I ripped again and when I was sewing the block back together, I paid very careful attention to the drawing.

Look at the drawing compared to the actual block. What on earth did I do? The drawing is wrong! I was making the block by the drawing and it was wrong no matter how careful I was! I don’t have a printer in the sewing room so I sent the EQ file to myself in email, went back to the house and printed the block and I must’ve pulled a block out of one of the other drawings because obviously, this drawing isn’t right! The center four patch is wrong, the whole block is flipped and don’t even ask me where I got that bottom left corner.