Around the Blocks is moving!

Moving is always exciting, right? Well, we aren't really moving, but the blog is.  You can find me now at my new website Rachelmhayes.com.  It is currently under construction, so please bear with me.  Hope to see you there!

Quilted Pin Cushions

Thank you Crazy Mom Quilts for the tutorial on how to make these little quilted pin cushions.

They really are fun to make.  I was trying to think of a small 'quilt' themed gift and I think this will be perfect.  I made a couple more but ran out of crushed walnut shells. Off to Amazon.com to see if I can find more.

Woo-hoo! Published!

I received this in the mail today!  This issue will be for sale on May 31st.  It is so exciting to have a quilt published.


I was pretty busy a few months ago. And now, I can start showing you a little more of what I've been working on.  Stay tuned.

Back to Quilting

Got the big one finished and on the machine.  I am using the Marmalade pantograph.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Taking a little break from quilting today. Enjoy our vacation pictures.

We are ending our week long adventure in Jackson Hole, WY and Yellowstone.  Mid May is a good time to come because there are no crowds.  That also means that lots of activities are not open yet, as well as some of the lodges and park roads, but that is fine with us.  Usually we just eat, drive around looking for wildlife, and take goofy pictures of each other.  Our first day here it spitted snow.

We saw a lot of these scruffy goats in the wildlife refuge in Jackson.

 

The snow on the Tetons was very beautiful.

 We saw a couple of moose (mooses??) at the Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis Club.  Yes, just walking around eating on the trees.

 This little guy was so cute.  He came right up to me begging.

 ..and of course we saw lots and lots of bison and elk.

 ...taking a picture of him taking a picture....

It was amazing to see all the snow still there, especially in the lower portion of Yellowstone. That is snow on the lake!

 Although there was still lots of snow, the temps were in the high 50's and low 60's our last day of touring in the park.

 Back in Jackson for our last night, I was able to get in a run.   That was pretty neat.  There is a long walking/running/biking path along the main road into Jackson which joins the Elk Refuge.

Yeah, that sign on the running path, but I didn't run into any big game.

Long Borders - how do you measure them?

Long Borders.  Seems like I always have a hard time measuring for them.  I use a retractable tape measure but today I thought of something very simple but very helpful.

I taped the end of the borders to where the wall and floor meet.  Then stretched out the borders and tape measure, and marked where I needed them to be.  The scrappy border was from 18" x 4 1/2" pieces cut from fat quarters, which was about the largest I could get.  It worked out great for my 95x104" king quilt.  I just had to cut a tad off the end.  It fit on the quilt perfectly. What other ways do you measure for borders?

Usually I stretch the quilt across my machine roller and measure horizontally in the center.  This was way too big for that. I tried to be very careful with my 1/4" seam and when squaring up the blocks so I didn't even measure the quilt, but calculated the width and length. I know I took a chance, but it worked out great.

Progress

This is what my sewing table looked like at the end of last weekend.....

This is what it looked like last night.....

Yes!  The blocks are done.  All 90 of them.  I spent some time today sewing them together.

Six rows are finished and only three more to do, plus the borders.  I think I really might get this quilt done by my goal date of May 28th.

Sunday

Enjoyed the weather today.  It was so pretty down at the lake.



Enjoyed a little peaceful time outside today.



 
We have bird's nests in both of our ferns on the front porch. Guess the birdies need homes too.


...and after 13 years in this home we finally have some house numbers.  I used my drill.  Kind of practicing for the big bed project.