Slow Stitching...

both Saturday and Sunday -- or at least, most of the time.  Yesterday I did manage to assemble the remaining 3 rows of my Easy Street top.  Here they are spread on my cutting table...waiting to be sewn to the other 4:

Yes...that's just the lower left (Southeast) corner and the two rows moving from that into the centre.  The top is constructed on point.  The block that's front and centre in the photo is part of the row that will join the remaining section -- what I call the Northwest corner!

But that's the only machine work I've done this weekend.  I began beading the 'leaves' on "Tree Line", accompanied by more wonderful pod-casts from On Being, as well as short clips from "82nd and Fifth", a new video series from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, about which I was notified by e-mail recently (I'm on their e-mail list).  No textiles in the ones I viewed yesterday afternoon, but inspirational nevertheless.

Though I'm still working on the beading, here's what it looked like when I ran out of steam yesterday:

Pookie came in for a closer look while it was still on the table where I was working:

Even at nine months, she's very discriminating!

Yes, I can hear some of you muttering about cat hair on my work -- never fear!  She wasn't there very long, and all work is thoroughly cleaned of hair and threads before making any sort of public appearance!

Once I set the beading aside, I turned to some hand embroidery, putting in another row on the Atlantic Seaboard Sampler I'm making for my friends' 40th wedding anniversary in May:

Looking through my magnifier, you can see I was working on Row 19 of 33; I finished it during the evening.  The next row will be more formidable; it's the Nova Scotia tartan...worked in single strands of cotton floss in tent stitch...over one thread at a time.  Please pray that when I've finished the row, I won't have gone blind!!

And today...the beading continued as I watched Bonnie's Quilt Cam, but the sunshine is calling so I'm off shortly for a walk while the weather holds.  Tonight...more pod-cast treats and more beading.  Happy Sunday!

P.S. Remember, any comments left on any of my posts this week will result in an entry into the first of my three 10th Blogging Anniversary give-away draws, Friday, February 15.  :-)

Finishes on a Friday

It's been a very full week -- and I've managed to finish some things...or at least, get through Step "A" so I can start Step "B".

First, I finished all the "B" blocks for Easy Street, and decided to pin a few up on my design wall so you could see how electric this quilt is going to be:

Isn't that wild?!  Yes, there's a lot of green...but I'm thinking the overall effect is going to be quite wonderful. Can you identify the blocks versus the setting triangles without going cross-eyed?!  Assembly begins...well...maybe this weekend.

Second, I finished some snow-dyeing... sort of.   I started yesterday with a single tub and two colours -- 'Scarlet' and 'Golden Yellow' (Dharma Trading Co. dyes).

Alas, the results were less than inspiring.   The scarlet 'ate' all the yellow, and very little gradation showed.  There were large gaps of ...not much.

So.  I decided to 'snowverdye' and put the dyed, dried fabric back into the bottom of the tub, covered it with a fresh layer of snow and applied only 'Golden Yellow' dye:

Then I forgot about it. Yep.  Clean forgot, as I was involved in another project this afternoon.  Then I went for my jog.  Then I got on the phone.  Then...oy!  The snow had pretty well melted entirely by the time I rinsed it and put it in the drier.  We shall see...but I think it may be okay.  My Dyeing Angels may have just been looking out for me.  One can only hope!

Third, I finished "Sentinels" yesterday; tonight, during Bonnie's Quilt Cam, I'll be sewing down the facing.  Then all that will be left to do is apply the label and a sleeve.  Here's what it looked like with the facing applied and pressed, pinned to my design wall:

Sentinels (c) 2013 - 16" x 27.5"

Here are a couple of detail shots:

I really like the little puddling of shadow near the fence (right side) and the tufts of prairie grass added to the left side.

The next couple of pieces won't be as large, but I'm gearing up for a larger square piece -- with a 24" square requirement -- "Choia" for the SAQA Western Canada's "Burgess Shale Project".  Like the SAQA Visioning Project, there's a private blog set up for the artists participating to share their work and discuss their process and progress, but I'll be posting a bit about it here too.  It's due by June 6th.  I hear tell that a couple of the participating artists have finished their pieces already (!)...but I never met a deadline I didn't love...  ;-)  Stay tuned!

P.S. Linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday"...check it out and see who's working on what!

Posts and Poles

Fence posts, that is, and power poles.

Spent most of this afternoon working on "Sentinels" -- applying the stone out-cropping, adding some thread painted bush, and the aforementioned P&P.  When I finished I trimmed off the batting as it was getting cumbersome.  Then I had to block it a wee bit.  The sky quilting is denser (more dense?) than the snow quilting, so it nipped in about 1/8 inch on one side.  the blocking seems to have evened this out.  I only hope it will last during the last of the thread painting and on into the facing stage.  In the trimming, I lost a bit of the top of the pole on the far left, but I think in the end that will give the piece interest.

I have to admit I really like the way the fence line shaped up.  It's all little bits of the same fabric as the power poles, all drawn onto the paper side of Steam-a-Seam 2, which I like when I want a bit of a stickiness in order to place a piece onto the background and have it stay there while I'm considering it -- before ironing it into place permanently.

Next I need to stitch down the P&P, add power lines and barbed wire traces, and some more grasses.  There's a large swath at the bottom of the piece that looks very bare right now; that's where the grasses belong.  I checked the proportions against the photograph, and to be precise, that area between the last fence post on the right and the bottom of the piece should be 8.8"...Nine is close enough for me!

And simply for a change of page, I finished another Block B for Easy Street.  Only 3 more to go, and I can start figuring out how it all goes together!

"Mountainscape I", the mock-up for the door quilt, met with approval when displayed yesterday, so now I have to plan the larger piece -- in between getting show pieces ready, that is.  The SAQA "Santa Fe Spotlight" miniature is already on its way to the curator of the auction, but a stack of fabric lies waiting for me to make some more of those, too.  Never a dull moment!

A Lotta White and Green

Most of the white's outside my window, as the snow's been falling steadily since about 6 a.m. -- sometimes heavily, sometimes lightly, but constant.  I cancelled my Usual Monday in Lacombe and stayed home to sew.

I began with the sampler on which I'm working for my friends' 40th wedding anniversary this spring.  They aren't big Internet users and don't read my blog, but to be safe I'll show you only a wee glimpse:

From "Atlantic Seaboard Sampler" by Jeannette Douglas

To get this finished on time, I need to stitch two pattern rows a week from now till April.  The fishies you see are the first of this week's two rows!  :-)  My challenge with these samplers is to translate the count on the chart to the linen.  Even 'even-weave' has it's lumps and bumps, and so sometimes I'm a thread out -- and that can add up.  I've become a master at fudging!  When it comes to the natural world (leaves, grasses, wildlife), I figure they're all a bit different anyway...and so far, so good!

This took up a good chunk of my morning today. After a lunch of home-made veggie soup and whole wheat-rye bread, I decided to finish off the last two "A" blocks for Easy Street.  That done, I laid out a "B" block to see what it looks like.

My first thought?  That's a whole lotta green!

Whoa!

I'm hoping things balance out once I start to put them together into the top!

To rest my eyes (!) I decided to audtion fabrics and a layout for a new piece, based on a photo I took a couple of years ago down at Northbow Lodge, while I was there on a quilting retreat.  (Note: it's a fly-fishing haven in the summer, and a quilter's delight in the 'off season'.  Home-made quilts on every bed, terrific food and scenery to die for.  If you ever get a chance to visit, DO!)

Original Photo Inspiration for "Sentinels"

Fabric audition includes hand-dyed fabric (sky), batting (very white snow areas), and commercial fabrics, all used on the "wrong" side.  The stark line from centre left down to bottom right indicates where the fence and power poles will be applied.  There'll be a lot of hand embroidery and thread painting before this one is the way I'll want it...and I want it as part of the Lacombe show and sale in mid-April; hence starting now.  Estimated finished size: about 20" wide x 30" long.

See?  Told ya I'm starting to work larger!  ;-)

Of Blocking...and Blocks

F is a Christmas friend.  By that I mean, she and her husband, P, are people that my husband and I worked with in the mid-seventies, and with whom we've been in touch ever since -- generally once a year, at Christmas. Of the two of us, F was the less conservative, the more feminist, and the more inclined to make her own cards, while I steered away from tree-hugging and bought my cards by the box from UNICEF or got them sent to me by some other charitable organization(s).  F usually included some sort of newsletter; I wrote short notes by hand.

When our kids were small, we visited them and their (still small but a bit older) kids in their home on Vancouver Island,  but they never got around to visiting us in Calgary...and now all said kids are grown, and some are married, and some have children of their own.  Still, F and I (it's usually the women in families who do these things, right? Act as Social Secretaries and Perpetual Correspondents...) continue to correspond at Christmas.  So.

This year, I sent my usual card and hand-written note to F and P -- and very shortly before Christmas got an e-mail from F with the usual newsletter attached.  But...the word cancer leapt off the page screen at me, and I printed it out, just to be sure.  Then I phoned.

After I hung up, I found a pattern and began to knit.

"Zilver" - designed by Lisa Mutch

The yarn is from Schaeffer Yarn Company and is called "Anne" -- though the colour-way is not, apparently, consistent. I bought mine at Make 1 Yarn in Calgary a few years back, with something completely different  in mind -- a shawl, I'm sure, but the intended pattern escapes me.  The hank I had was predominately blue with green, purple and a red-brown.  The pattern is "Zilver", designed by Lisa Mutch -- a free Ravelry download -- which I discovered quite by chance in a post from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (The Yarn Harlot) -- at least, I think that's where I found it, but I can't find the link in her blog archives now.  Sigh...

I finished it Saturday (Jan. 5), had it blessed by our priest on Sunday, and it's in the mail now.

While I was blocking 'Zilver', I dug out a shawl I'd knit from a set of mystery clues on Ravelry a while back. I was never happy with it, so I decided to wash and re-block it.  Yes, folks, this can be done!  And whoa!  Ir's larger and lovelier -- much more as I'm sure it was intended to be!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

What a difference a little learning makes!  I'm much happier with the 'after', which is larger and actually wearable!

As for blocks, I'm making my way gradually along Easy Street, having completed nine of sixteen Blocks "A".

I hafta tell ya, I'm simply lovin' these colours!!  

And I'm keeping a promise I made to myself when I was digging through my stash for ES fabrics.  At that time I found three (count 'em) bags of Blocks-of-the-Month I'd purchased as far back as 2003 from a quilt shop in Calgary that (alas) has since closed its doors (owner retired).  I hadn't (really) forgotten 'em; I'd just not got around to working on 'em.  So... I promised myself that starting January 2013 I'd begin to put them together...figuring on at least one block per month for three years, resulting in 3 small tops to quilt up and give away.

The first quilt top I chose is called "Cinnamon" and dates from 2006.  Here's the January block, which is 10.5 inches; 10 inches finished (in the quilt).  Likely there'll be sashing so that the 12 blocks can make up a throw- sized quilt at the very least.

The shop owner, Janet, was fond of stars it seems, because most of the Saturday Block and other BOM programs she ran consisted of stars in various configurations!  I don't mind, because it keeps me practicing my piecing and my points!

I may do one BOM this year, or I may do two.  Whatever happens, at least one top will be ready to quilt by year's end, and it'll be small enough I can manage it here at home.

That said, tomorrow it's back to work in earnest in the art quilting 'sewdio', so I'll be working on blocks betwixt and between.  I have some stories to tell about trees...so stay tuned.

P.S. Linking this late to Bonnie's Monday Mystery Link-up.  :-)

Palate Cleansers

I'm still on a break...between finishing 2012 with a bang and starting a new year of fresh ideas.  I have plenty of those, but I'm resting up my brain so I can begin again at a fairly challenging clip, starting next week.

That said, I'm still sewing.

First, there's the Easy Street top to finish, and Clues #7 and #8 were revealed in quick succession this week.  Whoa!  I checked my posts last year around this time, though, and sure enough, I was talking about Clue #7 for Orca Bay on December 31, 2011, so I guess Bonnie's right on time again this year.  And I'm right on time making progress with ES Clue #7 today, to whit:

• Four Pieced Block #Ones.  Here are the first two, fresh off the assembly line.  I love these colours!

• Eight (of 12) Pieced Block #Twos.  Did I mention I love these colours?!  I'll likely get the last four finished tonight.  With each one, assembly becomes easier.  The thing that blows me away, though, is how neatly the pieces fit together -- points, corners, the whole shootin' match.  I've been doing these mysteries for the past two years because I know I'm going to need to retire some of my bed quilts from active duty, and have to replace them.  However, what these have been doing for my piecing skills is nothing short of phenomenal.

Second, something completely different emerged from my machine on Monday:

FRONT

BACK

Yep.  A garment.  In fact, a short, cool little cotton dress (Pattern: IJ807 from Indygo Junction, designed by Mary Ann Donze.)  If you link through to the pattern, you'll see that the bodice (without alterations by me) is a bit shorter than in the photo (I made the scoop-necked version on the cover - right-hand side).  However, I like the almost-empire-waist.  I shortened the sleeves and omitted the pocket, which -- not being in-seam -- seemed a bit superfluous to me, strategically located over one's left hip!  :-)

The fabric is from stash.  The large print you see is a piece of the yard given me by my well-intended neighbours when I looked after their house last year while they were on an Alaskan cruise.  They know I quilt and wanted to bring back something for me.  Alas, they didn't realize how challenging it would be to use this piece effectively in a quilt.  I hope to use the remains in a top (another Indygo Junction pattern).

The back has a little faux belt, which will be secured by buttons, once I get the other handwork (hemming, tacking facings) finished.  I have a large collection of buttons from which to select something fun and funky.  :-)  The plan is to take this dress with me to Santa Fe in April.  I haven't researched the weather there at that time of year.  Given the altitude it could be very cool.  Still, it's far south enough from Central Alberta that I can likely get away with a cotton dress on a museum tour at a luncheon (I'll be there for the SAQA Conference plus a couple of days beforehand for touring).

And third...I succumbed to the temptation to purchase another Craftsy class.  This one is "Design It, Quilt It" with Cindy Needham.  I've been following her blog for some time now and her quilting -- on a small machine -- takes my breath away.  I have inherited several "vintage" cloths -- tea cloths, table cloths, tea towels, table runners -- from my mother/grandmother/aunt (the quilter), and while I use and enjoy a few of them, most of them are languishing in my linen closet because of the care required.  Some are embroidered; some are cut-work; one or two are damask.  I have it in mind to use a large tablecloth that graced our dining table for years when I was growing up, in some sort of tribute to my mother in time for the centenary of her birth in June 2016, and I think Cindy is just the person to teach me what I need to know to finesse this tribute piece.

While I have some small pieces -- and hankies -- that I will use as practice pieces for the course, today I ironed up two larger pieces to use for my first major projects in this course:

"Vintage" tea cloth with embroidery & cutwork

Large hand-embroidered table cloth

While the tea cloth is of a size suitable for a hanging, the table cloth, if quilted successfully, could actually be a throw or small bed quilt size -- or a very large hanging.  We'll see what transpires as I go along.

To add class work to my list of projects (again) requires some planning and a likely re-jigging of my "sewdio"  time table...so stay tuned!

And now I'm going to head back to the machine to finish the last four pieced blocks for ES Clue #7...and will link this post up to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network.

Ta-ta for now!

Little Houses on the Prairie

...and other stitching stories!

This afternoon I finished the Clue #5 blocks for the Easy Street Mystery quilt...3 1/2" squares that (as Bonnie has already suggested) actually resemble little houses:

Fun with purple and hot pink!

Last week I completed Clue #4, but because I was "RemEMBERing" and away from the blog, I didn't show you this.

 Top row: Clue #3; bottom row: Clue #4.

And for those of you who may have been curious about the Christmas gifts I couldn't show earlier, here's the gallery of Finished Projects:

• For my daughter: "Avocato" from the series Garden Patch Cats by Helene Knott, which I bought as a kit at the Red Deer Quilt Show last June.  The colours match Gina's kitchen, and she loves both cats (has 2) and avocados, so I took a chance she'd like this.  She did!

• For my son, "Torii Gate" designed by Catilleja Cotton, from a kit I bought at the Wetaskiwin Quilt Show last spring:

• For my daughter, a pair of socks in predominately red self-striping yarn, to replace a pair that she's just about worn out:

• For my son and for my nephew, a pair each from the same yarn -- finger-less mittens:

• For my nephew's girlfriend, a long skinny scarf:

Noro 'Kureyon' - Box Stitch pattern

• For my sister, a dressy scarf:

Berroco "Bling Bling" - 'Mistake Rib' pattern

And that's what's been keeping me out of trouble in the weeks before Christmas. That -- and the completion of my Final Assessment Piece for C&G.  But that's another post altogether!

Linking this belatedly to Quiltville's Mystery Monday link-up for December 24th!

Of Saints and Sewing

St. Stephen in Glory (detail)
Giacomo Cavedone, 1601

Today is honoured by some as St. Stephen's Day...remembering the martyring of Stephen, considered the first Christian martyr, who, as he was dying (from stoning), the Scriptures say, forgave those who were stoning him (Acts 7:60).

From Christmas Carols,
New & Old

It is the day, according to the carol, that Good King Wenceslas went out with his page to bring food, drink and firewood to an impoverished peasant -- braving weather not unlike the snowy -25 C we're experiencing here in Central Alberta today.

Both remembrances carry meaning for our times; the first because we are remembering recent appalling tragedies: the murders at Sandyhook Elementary School; the pre-meditated shooting of firefighters called to a burning home in upstate New York; and the killing of five Nigerian Christians, including their pastor,  on Christmas Day while they were at prayer, followed by the burning of the church.  Stephen's forgiveness reminds us that there is a nobler side to our humanity, that we are called to 'love [our] enemies and pray for those who persecute [us]' (Matthew 5:44)...indeed, this is the only way to peace.  (Lest you doubt Scripture, contemporary research bears this out, and there are many sources on this work.)

And the second?  The legend of Wenceslas I teaches us compassion in action, another sign there is a nobler side to our humanity, and yet another way to show love for others as for ourselves and to live in peace.

Today is also known widely as Boxing Day-- a statutory holiday in many parts of the Western world, the origin of which is rather unclear.  Some believe that 'boxing' refers to boxing up the stuff they got for Christmas and putting it away.  The British tradition holds this as the day when servants, having waited on their masters on Christmas Day, were given the day off to spend with their own families, perhaps taking with them 'Christmas boxes' of money and gifts given by their employers in recognition of their faithful service during the year.

But the European tradition seems to me to be closer to that practiced by the Good King: giving money and boxes of gifts to the needy and the poor -- in addition to recognizing the work of their servants and 'good pages'.

What has all this to do with sewing?  (Yes, I hear you asking that after you've indulged me by reading all of the above!)

Well...for those of us who prefer to shun the 21st century tradition of shop-till-you-drop on Boxing Day...we're getting ready to sew, sew sew!   Sandy over at Quilting for the Rest of Us is holding her Second Annual Boxing-Day Sew-In, and has invited other bloggers to join her in a give-away, so check there often for links to same.

My participation to the BDSI this year will be to finish the latest clues for the Easy Street Mystery Quilt, so that I'm all ready for the next step on Friday.  Then there is the 'leaders and enders' "Picnic Quilt" I continue to plug away on that will be given away through the charity tree at my church.  Last but not least, I'll be sewing on something for my daughter's mid-January birthday, so that's all I'm sayin' for now on that subject!  :-)

I want to share a few Christmas memories (including the photos of gifts I talked about but couldn't show) and the run up to the completion of my Final Assessment Piece for the C&G, but this post is already long enough...so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, would you consider foregoing the sales on this Boxing Day, and staying home with your stitching (whether with knitting, sewing or crochet needles or hooks), perhaps boxing up something special for those still in need in our weary world?

Would you consider a saying a prayer with each stitch, for those who have lost so much, and for any in need of forgiveness and healing?

Would you remember that like the Good King, you can be Light in this often dark and weary world?

Let's go stitch!

Christmas WIPs

Gift-work continues in Margaret's Workshop...and in the kitchen, too!  These fellows were made a couple of weeks ago and frozen.  

On the menu for today?  My batch of Annual Christmas Fudge -- from my tattered copy of  the Fun to Cook Book from Carnation Evaporated Milk.  I've been making Five-minute Fudge (chocolate) almost every Christmas since I was about eight, and my mother had to help me stir it!

Here's what the fudge-making looked like in process...

And here's what's happening in the "stewdio" in addition to Christmas gifts...

33 Clue #3 Easy Street blocks completed...31 to go!

I just love that hot pink!

I'm linking up with Monika and the gang for WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network -- and hope to "see" some of you tonight when Bonnie hosts Quilt Cam -- 9 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. here in the Mountains!

Before I Rush Out

I wanted to post my very modest beginnings on Easy Street: Clue #3.  I cut out the pieces yesterday but work on Christmas gifts took priority -- and I needed to do handwork so I could enjoy Quilt Cam (my computer is in the living room, not the sewing room.)

I put together several 'wing' units before I discovered I had one 'wing' flying in the wrong direction (small pile in lower right corner).  As this is my usual day out in Lacombe, I haven't had time to fix 'em, though I did manage to begin a few fresh wings (small pile in the centre) and to complete 2 full blocks -- just to be sure I'd caught on to what I'm supposed to do.  I rather like this colour combination, so it should be a very pleasant job to get them all finished before Clue #4 arrives Friday.  Have a great day everyone! (Oh, and I'm linking up to Bonnie's Mystery Monday Link-up...)

'S No Mystery; It's Monday!

Today's a bit of a snow day for me.  We had a small storm roar through yesterday afternoon and overnight, so the roads aren't ideal for travelling just yet -- and I have a good 5" deep by several feet long and wide to shovel, just to get out of my driveway.  Maybe we'll see the Lacombe County plows today...and maybe we won't.

It's just as well; I have lots I can do here, given that my usual Monday in Lacombe has been cancelled.  :-)

First, I have a few Flying Geese Units to finish up for my Easy Street mystery quilt.  I've made 100 of the 128 required, but those last couple of dozen (+/-) will be finished in no time.  Here sit the finished units (lower left-hand corner), cuddling up to the four-patches from Clue #1.

Then I have some more gift knitting to do...and the inevitable stitching on my Final Assessment Piece for the C&G.  I worked some more on it yesterday afternoon during Bonnie's Quilt Cam, but need to track down some more green floss.  I may just go back to the sample and play with some silk ribbon I have that's the right colour and might work well in the foreground.   If I do, I'll take photos and share that later on.

And then there's the Advent Quiet Day to prepare for.  I need to make another batch of muffins for the attendees, and to write out my portion of the reflections so that what comes out of my mouth on The Day actually makes sense! LOL!

Best get busy!

Oh...and I'm linking this up to Bonnie's Mystery Monday link-up over at Quiltville.  Have a great day!

And Now Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Reading

Now that the give-away is taken care of, here's what I've been up to lately.

Christmas knits proceed apace.  This skinny scarf with the equally skinny fringe is for a young friend of the family who -- far as I know -- doesn't read this blog, so it's safe to post the photo!  Here it is, lounging atop my easy chair in front of my sunny front window.  It's made of Noro Kureyon in a box stitch pattern (knit two, purl two, alternating)...very soothing and simple to knit.  It's a good three metres long, including fringe, so...lots of 'round the neck potential.  Hope she likes it!

The other Christmas knitting and sewing are moving right along too...sorry, no photos. Nope; not a one.  :-)

Pookie's help in the sewing studio hasn't hampered my work on my  "Easy Street" mystery quilt at all.  At right is the tray of 193 four-patches from Clue #1 -- 192 called for, and one for the pot.  Clue #2 of the mystery was posted yesterday, and is now underway.

Clue #2 requires assembling 128 -- count 'em! -- Flying Geese Units (FGUs).  Ms. Bonnie loves the rulers she uses to make these, and waxes eloquent about them in a very helpful tutorial. complete with video.  I believe she used at least one of these rulers last year for Orca Bay, too.  However, I'm still not on board with 'em.  I have enough rulers.  However, she did make one valid point: while there are many methods for successfully constructing FGUs, some waste quite a bit of fabric.  Considering my favourite method to date -- a rectangle and two squares -- I had to admit my method was one of those.

Thus I decided to check out other options, and I came across this one from Pieceful Quilter.  It involves a large square and four small squares, from which one gets four FGUs at one time.  First I made a sample, and once I figured out her method, I forged ahead.

For Clue #2, the FGUs had to measure -- unfinished -- 2' x 3 1/2".  According to Ms. Pieceful, for every 4 units of that size, I would need one 4 1/4" square and four  2 3/8" squares, which you see here in purple (32 of 'em) and cream print background fabric (128 of 'em).

You begin the FGU by creating two heart-like units from  the single large square and two small squares.






Then you add a third small square to each 'heart':

From here you mark 'em, stitch 'em and slice 'em, et voila!   Trim off the little bunny ears and you're "good to go", as my daughter would say.  :-)

Yesterday, after cutting out all the squares I needed, I put together 16 FGUs from four large ones and 16 small ones, with only a tiny pile of trimmed ears left over -- a far cry from the small triangles I've collected using my previous method.  Plus I didn't have to invest in new rulers and I didn't have to sew bias edges.  What's not to love?

In the C&G, I'm working on the hand stitching to add texture to my Final Assessment Piece.  This was the perfect task last evening while sipping decaf and watching Ms. Bonnie on her Quilt Cam.  I began with the brown grasses, but had to move onto the greens because I ran out of "Wood Rose"  and had to order more from my friend Janice at Traditional Stitches.  I only hope she has it in stock, as there's nothing else quite like it in my stash.  I think I have plenty of greens...

Stitching continues into today, as I watch the snow fall softly and try to decide whether or not I want to shovel a third day (in a row)...

"Be well, do good work, and keep in touch."  

- Garrison Keillor, The Writer's Almanac

:-)