Another finish; do I have ONE more miracle in me???

Oh, what a day!!!
Packed full and I'm still feeling like I'm going strong.....
Up and revin' the engine by 8:00; hitting the Statistics books until 3:00. (YUP! 7 hours almost non-stop; it's to be expected by now....How far away is January 21st????)

BUT, at 3:00, I literally went from one table to another.....
the dining room table was replaced with my quilting table.....Jen's quilt was a callin'!

Jen's Diamonds (86" x 96")
My SIL and brother have a queen size bed, so this baby will be just the right size! It's pictured on my king size bed.....freshly laundered and ready for packaging and wrapping.

And here's the backing I mentioned yesterday. I burned through a nice amount of stash for this one. The quilting is VERY simple! Horizontal lines! That's it. My SIL wanted it "floofy" {{lol...still love that description}}, so I used polyester batting and VERY little quilting to keep it "flexible." At least it was a quick one to quilt up.


So, I'm wondering....can I pull off a miracle before next Sunday when we celebrate Christmas with DH's family???

I pulled out the fabric I purchased last month for BIL's (DH's brother) quilt. He made his wishes very clear. Simple. Camo. and Heavy! SO! Heavy denim camo was purchased as well as black demin. This fabric is QUITE different sewing than the typical cotton. I will NOT be loading this top on the frame when I get to the quilting point. My plans: purchase a queen size black sheet, cut batting to fit and TIE this quilt.

I took a personal day tomorrow so I could make Caitlyn's Christmas Program at 1:30; I haven't taken a personal day in quite a while, so.....I don't feel too guilty about this one. {{although my Statistics students were pouting that I'm giving them a test tomorrow---on a MONDAY---and I'm not there to answer any questions they may have.}} Anyway....I'll be up to take Candace to before-school care and then I'll be back home working away on Trav's (BIL) quilt. If I get this top done before I leave for my family Friday morning, it will be VERY likely to be completed by Sunday's celebration with DH's family. I have ALL DAY Saturday with no plans other than relaxing at my parent's house....so....PLENTY of time! :0)

Ooooooooo......I'm liking this week's stash report!

Stash Report: Dec. 13 - 19
Used/week: 14.25 yards
Purchased/week: 0.0 yards

Used/year: 242.146 yards
Purchased/year: 221.736 yards

Net used: 20.41 yards

Happy 5 days 'til Christmas!!!!!!!!!

On the frame and on the sewing table...

The main part of the day, I spent piecing a backing for Jen's Diamonds. I didn't have enough of any one, or two, or three fabrics, so I pulled as many blues/browns/cremes I could to create a pieced backing. Mostly made of 10" blocks checkerboarded, with a few strips of fabs here-n-there. At one point, I planned on taking a picture of it before loading it on the frame, but......yeah.....I kinda forgot by the time I came back down from "momma-style-cleaning" in the loft.

MY GOODNESS!!! Will those girls EVER learn how to clean without "momma-style-throwing-into-a-garbage-bag" cleaning?? {{giggle}}....I'm wondering when there aren't going to be any toys LEFT up there because I've tossed all of them in a garbage bag at one time or another. Hmmmm....must be like scraps; they simply multiply over night without knowing how.


Anyway....so Jen's Diamonds is loaded on the frame and will await tomorrow or some other crunch time this week. I simply am too pooped to quilt this tonight; not even starting. Blah....


Gotta LOVE Leaders-n-Enders method! If you haven't heard of this method yet, TRULY TRULY take a few moments of your time in order to SAVE you time in the long run.

Today, while piecing the backing for Jen's quilt, I finished up RRCB Step #2 units, so my game plan tonight is to printout Step #4 and see about prepping that for L/E.

I still have a backup L/E project lying around...my Buckeye Beauty - Fall Swap blocks that I'm making MORE of in order to have a nice large quilt. I have been sewing the L/E for a few months now....very leisurely....so I wanted to have an idea of how many I have in all at this point....

Sixty-seven (67) complete sets to make sixty-seven 8" blocks. So, I'm thinking.....a 7x9 layout (that's 63 total blocks for a center measuring roughly 56"x72"). Four blocks will be left over to use at corner blocks to complete the borders I'll piece together for it.

Hmmm.....guess all these twosies will be pieced for some "extra" 4-patches for some other project in the future.

I'm sure this will come as NO SURPRISE to any other quilter out there.....

I have SO MANY "gonna-be-made" quilts floating around in my mind AND in my sewing room. I made up my mind that this little some-day-to-be-made-into-a-quilt fabric roll is going to be a Christmas gift for my MIL. Oh----soooooo hard to part with it, but....psht! As if I don't have enough other 'some-day-to-be-made-into-a-quilt' fabrics all over my sewing room!!!

I'll share this Random Reflections pattern with her as a possible use for the fabrics.

Okay---still have some energy so I'm off to see about prepping RRCB Step #4.

Happy Saturday Evening!

3rd December finish: Morning Run

Morning Run (72"x92")

Freshly laundered, Morning Run is ready for gifting to DH's boss's daughter.  Overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

The quilting was from a book via Golden Threads; no name was given for the pattern.

I used a Thinsulate batting rather than my normal Warm-n-Natural.  I wanted her to be able to completely wrap herself up in this quilt, and sometimes I find that the Warm-n-Natural along with the amount of quilting a pantograph has us complete, the quilts are "stiff" until well broken in.   This one is easily at "snuggle status" already.  

I'm actually reminded of my Orange Crush (the first Bonnie mystery I took part in).  I used Thinsulate batting and it's my FAVORITE quilt to snuggle in with!  I love it!  Light, yet plenty warm!

While Morning Run was in the washer/dryer, I set out to piece the borders for the individual blocks of Jen's Diamonds.  Ehh...still not in love with this quilt.  I'm a bit nervous that it won't end up with a look that Jen will like...

Okay, time to get dinner going....

Another "me" day?

First of all, an update on the weather...

THANK YOU MAMA-NATURE for not holding a grudge! All the nasty weather blew south of us; I am afraid to watch the news to see all the damage that is/was unescapable with this system! I'll have to give my parents a call too, because the hometown was right in the path of the storms.

DH and I DID get the deck stained and we hope it had it enough time to dry initially before the rain came. **crossing fingers**. A 2nd coat needs to be done yet, but obviously that'll have to wait until things get dry again...

On the way back, we mosied along our merry way, taking lots of back roads. After a cafe-style lunch at a nearby 'blink-n-ya-miss-it' town, we continued to mosey. RIGHT past a "friend's" house (how thoughtful, right?). Nah....DH needed to pick up a motor that the "friend" was going to tune up. While talking and shootin' the breeze, his dog jumped in and made herself at home: Anje (ahn-gee). CUTE AS A BUTTON!!!! She could easily have come home with us!!!!


After checking out the friend's shop area and saying our departing words, we mosied further north to buy some more stain for the deck's 2nd coat, and then drove some more further north to pick up some thread at a quilt shop, then back south for a stop at Dairy Queen.

Once home, the weather was just starting to act up, so after taking care of the animals, we both put our feet up and napped. Ummmm.....can you call a 1.5 hour "snooze" a nap? Needless to say, my room didn't see any action yesterday. NO BIGGY!

Instead, at 8:00, I figured it was time to do something with these cucumbers.....

I've learned a few things from canning dill pickles in the past;
1) Leave the cucumbers WHOLE if you can
2) If you must cut them, cut them at least 1/4" - 1/2" thick
3) Use dill plants rather than dill seeds if at all possible

Our cucumber plants have only just begun to produce; we have BUKU blossoms that are going to be giving us cucumbers daily! So, I hope to keep up with canning, a little bit at a time. We only have 2 jars of dill pickles left in our panty, but about a dozen bread-n-butter (MY FAVORITE!!!), so, we're going to stock up on some dill.

I haven't found my favorite Diil Recipe yet, so I'm trying another "new" one. Here's the recipe I'm trying this year; of course, since I didn't have that many cucumbers, I halved the recipe. I ended up with the equivalency of 4 quarts, and the recipe worked perfectly in half.

I was able to leave a few cucumbers whole, but also had to cut up about 6 of the cuks that were too big. So, look at this gem!!!! A few years back when I helped my parent's clean out my grandmother's apartment, we were allowed to "help ourselves to anything we wanted." {{Yeah, that's when I "inherited" all my grandmother's fabric and quilting supplies!!!. My DH has an "antique-thing" going on, so he enjoyed sifting through much of her stuff. This cutter is one of the tools we have displaying on our mantel, but last night it found some actual use. That thing is SHARP! It didn't take long to cut through a handful of cuks---sure, I can see that a couple bushel-full would be annoying to do this way, but.....psht! I love how the slices look!

Bounty: 1 quart and 6 pints. How many more will be coming????


Today's tasks:
Sew, Sew, Sew.
DH promised me that my room would see a finish today. I think I'm going to hold him to that.
I want to finish Jared Takes a Wife today.
I need to work on August's BOM since my time is limited over the next two weeks.
I need to update my Stash Report since I didn't report last week.
Then?.....don't know yet. It'll be a classic "look-around-the-sewing-area-for-what-strikes-my-fancy" move. Maybe I'll pull out a UFO? Maybe a WIP? Maybe a PIG? {{Oh yeah, I still have Jen's "floofy" quilt to start}}

Happy Sunday

Quilting Marathon, anyone?

I have been able to sneak in a little bit of quilting Wed. and Thurs. evening this week---Deer Camp (March's UFO task) WILL see a finish either tonight or tomorrow.

...with loads of quilts awaiting borders and quilting right behind it.....

Therefore---I have decided NOT to travel down to my parent's this weekend for the annual "Rummage around Stratford" weekend; 100's of garage sales around the town my parents live in.

Instead---I'm devoting my weekend (or MOST of it) to quilting!!!! Anyone up to the same this weekend??? Wanna join me???

Another project screaming at me from the back burner is Hannah's Rotation. Award's Day is looming closer and closer, and I'm not sure this baby is gonna make it on time.... Boy, I need a magic wand for this one!

And as badly as I want to jump right into yet ANOTHER new project....I just C-A-N-N-O-T!
But here is a snapshot of the pattern my SIL choose for her "floofy" quilt....
and the fabric selection....


I feel so lazy right now though---I don't know if I'll get downstairs to some quilting tonight.

And have you seen!?!!?!? Amanda Jean (CrazyMomQuilts) is back! Talkin' about a motivator!!! I don't know how she does it all!

Okay---the girls just put in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" {{Cassie ADORES the "original"---specially the Oompa-Loompas}}, so I either need to mosey downstairs right away, or I'll be 'sucked' into the movie!!!

Happy Friday!

9:30 pm update
Grrrrrrr!!!.....
I was doing SO WELL with the Deer Camp quilting. Then......brown thread ran out. I am completely EMPTY of any shade of brown.....
**sigh**
I guess I need to make a quick run to town tomorrow so I can finish it up and get it off the frame. In the meantime, I cut some borders for American Classic, which will be the next quilt to be loaded in the frame.

Again, Happy Friday!