A full, but enjoyable, Saturday

I figured the best place to start is at the beginnig of the day today....

Today was the 5K race in Baldwin, WI and was the first race for my co-worker, Jan (pictured middle). I could make an entire post just on the race itself, and how SILLY Jan was talking. "I may just be having the 'big-one' (heart-attack) here......" "I'll be fine just as long as I beat that wiener-dog to the finish line......" "HOW far away is that finish line yet? I don't think I'm gonna make it--you and Julie are going to have to carry me to the finish line, or at least roll me!"..... Oh ----she was a hoot! I won't say this too loudly (in case she's listening), but the race for me was very fun, nice and RELAXING! The pace was at a much slower-than-normal-pace for me; my only goal of the day was get Jan to the finish. So, at 34:14, she crossed the line! Yeah :0) AND, we met her goal of NO walking (outside of the teeeeny-tiny .1 mile up-hill portion).

After a little relaxing and watching the awards ceremony, we hit the road to head back home. However, I took a slight detour to get to Rice Lake to test-drive the Janome6600. I sadly didn't have much time (only about 30 minutes), and that was BARELY enough for me to get out all my questions to Angie, the sales lady. But, I at least have a bit of an idea about the 6600 BEFORE travelling THREE HOURS to Rhinelander tomorrow to try out the Bernina440QE. (Yeah---I only thought it was TWO hours away, but good 'ol Mapquest.com quoted me just shy of 3 hours!!! UGH!) BUT---I have a baby-sitter lined up for the day, so I should be able to relax and just ENJOY! My game plan is to head out around 8:30 am, arrive just before noon, and "play" until WHENEVER (most likely 2-3 hours---they close at 3:00 pm).

Anyway....more about that when I get back home tomorrow....back to today.

Once I got home and after a quick lunch, I headed downstairs with one goal in mind......clean up the mess of scraps under the ironing board. I was off to a great start---a good hour and a half! Ironing, cutting using the Scrap-Users-System. Sadly, I BARELY made a dent! So, I took a break, had a snack, and checked into the Quiltville chat for half an hour.

Then.....Cassie asked if she could have some Wafer cookies that were in the cupboard. Not a problem......... A few minutes later, she said...."Hey mom--look! Isn't this neat?" And I'll tell ya, inspiration strikes at the most ackward times! I HAD to grab the camera and snap a pic


---because I didn't see cookies. I saw a BLOCK!
So.................You can probably WELL imagine what I did then!!!.........
And these are only a start. I have a pile behind the machine right now of LOADS of pieced strips, ready to be cut. I don't have a layout completely in mind, yet. However, this at least gave me the opportunity to tackle that pile of scraps a bit more. I'm using all scraps of pink, orange and brown---simply because I don't have enough of any one fabric of orange or brown. GOLLY---as if we haven't had enough orange already!!!

Oh yes....and last night (once I finally stepped away from the computer for an hour), I came across my left over CC rail blocks. So, I was in the mood to putz.....and I pieced them into these blocks. I have 16 complete blocks from my left-overs; so I'll just make a simple wall quilt for my sewing space (or I'll gift it to my mom, since she has the CC quilt.)

Railfence background choices...
Flowered brown











Green













More Railfence background choices.
Light yellow












BRIGHT Pink










And here is a shot of all 16 blocks on the green, which I'm leaning toward. However, seeing that pink in a photo is having me reconsider. If you feel like sharing, please leave a "vote" of your choice as a comment. THANKS!



So, it's been a NICE, relaxing "playing" day. AND.....I'm still trying to contain my excitement of my day ahead tomorrow. ALSO, because of my latest "push" for a new machine, the OC quilt and wall-hanging have been folded up and will wait for quilting until I am comfortable with my new machine (WHICHEVER it may be.)
This is another quilt that might get ripped out and re-quilted. I do not like how it turned out. I adore the top, but the quilting just is "blah." I think PART of the reason is the batting is too thick and "poofy."

Anyway.....I think that's enough to read for now. You can count on me bloggin tomorrow evening about how the test-run went. *sigh*......tomorrow is so far away!

OC Quilt and Wall-Hanging Tops DONE

Done, Done, Done! I hit my "creative" flow last night at 7:30, and sewed, sewed, sewed. As the picture shows, I DID decide to use my left over #2 blocks for the border. I needed to put together 52 more in order to have the completed border---I didn't mind making them one bit. I was in "sew-mode" last night! I think I'll be gifting this one to my oldest daughter, Cassie. She has a queen size bed (allll to herself), and doesn't have a quilt for it.



This wallhanging is what I'm even MORE proud of. I needed to sew four more complete Orange Album blocks---that didn't take too long, though. I wanted to use of ALLLLLLL of my "left-over" pieces since I didn't use the on-point setting for the quilt. So, I tinkered with arrangements of those little corner blocky things from step #3, and found a way to arrange them in the border. Yay me :0) An additional 16 needed to be put together, but again---not a big deal. 30 minutes later, they were done. I also added four blue corners to the border to make it complete :0) I'm very pleased, and the colors are FUN, BRIGHT, and EXCITING!

So, today came the time to play with some block designs for the 6.5" "Creamsicle Thank You block" for Bonnie. I created these two and will be sending both her way. I'm also going to go through my stash for the perfect fat-quarter to include in the package. It realllllllly is the least I (we) could do.

I hope all of your OC's are coming along nicely as well.

So, for the next week, I have a few goals:

• Finish Cassie's 30's quilt (might NO LONGER be hers now that OC will be hers)
  
• Sandwich and quilt OC Full quilt
  
• Sandwich and quilt OC Wall-hanging
  

These goals MUST be completed BEFORE I start the Boxy Stars or the Chunky Churndash quilt-alongs that some ladies are taking part in at Quiltville-Chat.

Fighting with laziness

Okay...the final layout has been chosen after some unsewing (I already had 4 diagonal rows sewn on-point). I really am impressed MORE with the straight layout instead of the on-point. I love the way an "irish-chain-like" appearance happens when the blocks are set straight.

And, of course, I had left-over half-album blocks that needed a project, so after unsewing SOME of them, I whipped out 5 more complete step #5 Orange blocks---I needed one additional complete block for my Full layout and 4 others for this wall-hanging.
It was a good thing we had left over blocks from step #2--I only needed to cut 5 blue squares, and I was sewing away already on the additional 5 blocks.
The wall hanging is set on-point, obviously. The final quilt and wall layout leaves me very few left overs to be dealt with. In fact, going from memory, I think I only have those little corner do-jabbies from step #3. And I ripped out a handful of the little blue triangles that were used in the half-albums. All-in-all, the quilt is still a good size, but a much more pleasing arrangement for me.

I ALMOST have the Full quilt pieced together, but I'm tired! I'm really fighting the laziness right now. I ran this morning, so that is adding to my tiredness, I think. I was tired BEFORE the run, and because of that, I stopped after 2 miles, when I had intentions of almost 5 miles with some areobic intervals. Oh well---maybe later tonight.
Back to the OC----I still am in no hurry, so I will play around with my left-over #2 blocks for a border. Maybe not a border for the Full quilt, but definately for the wall-hanging.

On a new note---Cathy from the QuiltvilleChat is organizing (sorta) a Boxy Stars quilt-along. Her start date is planned for July 1st, so I figured I'd quilt along with anyone else interested. Right now, my intentions are to use the men's plaids that I've been collecting at garage sales this Spring.

OC layout; Scappy Basket putzin'...ahhhhhhhh.....

it feels GOOD to be back quilting!!! I wrapped up Step 5 this afternoon as hoped, and have the blocks lying out on the carpet downstairs......

I didn't feel like starting to sew the rows together yet, so I decided to put the corner pieces onto my Scrappy Baskets Leaders-Enders project. I have 10 blocks done, with 6 more to go (or more....who knows?) I need to sift through the stash to see what "gawdy" fabric I can use for the sashing. I really want to burn up something I would never dream to use in a quilt. Believe me, Grandma handed me quite a bit of fabric that I'm sure will fit that bill :0)




As I was walking up the stairs, I snapped a pic of my "carpet area" downstairs where, as you can see, I have three different projects in progress. It is nice having the room, even though it's not a finished area.

As always, I hope all of you are enjoying your quilting time; family time; and summer time. It feels so good to be sewing again; no stress; no time commitments; and just being able to enjoy......

Break time...

I'm taking a small break right now from quilting, kickin' back, watchin' "The Mask" on TBS with the family, and checking emails.

I've been finally able to get back to the OC after working on Grandpa's Stars-n-Stripes. I finished up step 4 by noon, and started step 5. I'm going to predict that I'll be finishing up #5 within an hour of getting back to "work." And, since I already know what the layout is going to be, I've placed my Spinning stars blocks out on the carpet downstairs already, and filling in the gaps with the Orange album blocks. WOW! This quilt is big! I haven't made a full-size (queen-size) quilt since October! Even the CC wasn't all that big :0)

I'll update later this evening with pics.

Progress on OC and Stars-n-Stripes

I've had a full day.....
and believe it or not, it started at 5:55 am (sorta). #2 (Caitlyn) came marching down the stairs. You have GOT to be kidding me! We usually have to drag her out of bed at 6:30 during the week.....*sigh*
So, breakfast was made a little early...
We went grocery shopping at 8:00am, back at 9:15, unpacked by 9:45 (yeah.....LOTS of groceries!). Then DH had to head to Rice Lake (town about 30 minutes away) to get a few specialty items (oil for tractor so we can till the garden up and plant it tomorrow; and my contacts came in at the Shopko optical.
So, while he was gone, I actually CLEANED!!!!! But I limited myself to an hour so that I could get some quitling done. So, my bathroom is clean, all the dished were washed up, and a couple loads of laundry got done.
(not that this has anything to do with this blog, but when I was out looking for a "cleaning toilet" image, I came across this graphic. I giggled, so I thought I'd share it here too.....)




By 11:00, I headed down to the basement to start OC#4. I pulled out my colors that have been set aside for a month. The dark brown/black and the light brown/gray colors are my two colors for this part. However....I wasn't "feeling" those drab colors today....Nope, Nope, Nope.

So.....I gawked, peered, dug, and sifted through the stash.....

Ta-da! The green you see pictured is what I "felt!" I was able to cut all the triangles and get all of the green/black squares pieced before DH returned. But then, I had to play "mom" for a bit because Cassie was invited to a bowling-birthday party today at 1:00. DH husband actually took her and hung out with the birthday girl's dad while I stayed home with the younger two. I plopped a movie in the Portable DVD player downstairs, so I was actually able to continue sewing. Yeah! I finished up 10 of the 30 blocks and laid them out before deciding to put it aside around 3:00. I'll tell ya this though----I have a feeling this is going to be a larger quilt than CC. Those 9 blocks pictured take up a good size! 9.5" blocks......

It was time to get back to Grandpa's Stars and Stripes. After cutting up yet MORE 1.5" whites, I started piecing some sashing. Putzy, putzy, putzy. It's this method: "place the 1.5" blue square on the 5.5" white strip, sew the diagonal, trim off access." On BOTH sides of the 5.5" strip. Then, sew two of the strips together. Ugh, ugh, ugh. I'm kind of tired of such SMALL pieces!!!

But, lo-n-behold. Throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening, I've been able to complete ALL the white sashings. I'm actually amazed I haven't run out of material! I mean, those white PJ's weren't all that big, even with the shorts. I have the solid burgandy colored pants yet that haven't been used at all. I will most likely use these as a border, so this will end up being an excellent sized quilt for Dad.



Here is one fullly completed section that shows how the sashing creates the blue stars.


I won't get a lot of quilting time tomorrow because we plan to plant the garden and do some other yard work. Spring has FINALLY sprouted here in Wisconsin, but I'm a bit nervous about planting yet. It's still unseasonably cold---many nights are still in the 30's!!!

Staying afloat...somehow

Whew! What DAY is it today?!?!?
It's been crazy and chaotic this week, and FINALLY I have chance to breathe...

I'm not even going to BOTHER trying to recap the past few days; it's been a complete whirlwind.

But, amazingly, I was able to complete OC#3 and catch myself up! I even incorporated some of the new scraps purchased over the weekend.






I also have been slowly cutting up the "Grandpa PJ's" (burgandies, white and blue) I bought this weekend. In a few free moments, I did some surfing on the net to find the "perfect pattern" for the fabrics. Golly! That was tough! At first I didn't find anything. But then, after another hour, I had four possibilities, and I couldn't decide! My choices were a simple Ohio Star block.........
.....and whatever this block to the right is called :0)






...and then I found this quilt, and liked the layout. It would be very easy to make in reds, white, and blues.


But I finally decided on a design by Quick Quilts: "Stars and Stripes Forever"
Last night, I actually put an hour's worth of time into cutting some strips and piecing two log cabin blocks for the pattern. I hope to put some hours in later tonight, too...
....
But FIRST, I have a handful of Algebra tests to grade. I WILL keep that top priority! :0)

BUKU Progress!!!

Direct Translation: BUKU=SUPER LOTS!!

Last night, I DID go back to work as promised, but only for another half-hour. 8 hours of quilting all day deemed enough. I was getting tired. So at 6:00, I sat back, read LOTS *like....all!* of the Blogs in the Mystery Quilt Ring, while watching "Kong."

This morning, I was back downstairs by 7:30 am. I finished up the OHIO blocks of Part 6 around 10:00, only to get about 10 minutes into the second block - "HALF STARS" - when....ummmmmm......the directions confused me!!




Her picture (which I use dearly!!!) showed contradicting information! On the "pre-sewn" image, her bottom row of hour-glass blocks show her reds going verticle, BUT on her final sewn block picture, her reds are going horizontal. ........So...up to the Chatgroup I went.



In the meantime, I took this as an opportunity to complete a few of the OC#2 blocks. I was able to whip out 30 in no time. I am at a stand-still now until I cut some more light triangles.


20 minutes after my post, Linda came to my rescue with information about the correct placement!

Around noon (I think), I was able to complete all of CC#6. Wooo-hooo....this quilt MAY just get done lickity-split!






After a little lunch break, I came upstairs to print out the FINAL CLUE! Yeah. Whew------it was a doosey piecing the final block together. It took me all afternoon, actually!! But....done!

And then.....the moment I've been waiting for!!!

THE LAYOUT!!!!



It DEFINITELY looks scrappy! But, I love it!!! I snapped a picture super-quick to come up right away to upload it. However, DH was on the computer, so I went back downstairs to start piecing the strips together.

I completed (sorta) the bottom right three diagonals. Oh deary-me! Do you see my boo-boo in the picture?!?!?!?? (I know it's difficult to see because of the carpet color). I guess a mistake was going to happen sooner or later! JEESH!!!! I think it's quitting time, ya think! I'm not in the mood for the seam ripper right now!!!

Ahhh...lots of progress!

It's almost 3:30, and I'm taking a small break.

The first progress of the morning was to try out the OC#2 block. A few people from the chatgroup were writing in that difficulties were arising, so.....rather than cut out ALL the light strips, I wanted to be sure I could handle the block without difficulty. I dug into my 2" square stash and pulled a couple of squares, grabbed a handful of light triangles, and a couple of dark triangles, and ................
.....v'iola! Not a problem!!!!


So, I set those aside------I WANTED to continue, but....I made a goal that today I would tackle as much of the CC as possible. So...off I went, back to the CC. I already had all the pieces cut to finish up part 4. YIKES! It still looked daughnting with all those teeeny-tiny triangles. But....after only 2 hours, I was done. WOW! That went pretty smooth!

I already had CC#5 printed out, so......on I went. I was glad to see I was able to dig back into my Pink stash. It's unfortuate that we needed to use 2" strips instead of 1.5" strips though! I really went overboard with Part#1 and cut TONS of 1.5" strips. I guess I'll need to peek at Bonnie's site for a pattern that'll burn up those strips.
Anyway....It took me some time to cut up some 2" strips from both my pinks and browns. However, within an hour I was cutting them into triangle pieces using the Companion Ruler. What a GREAT TOOL! And, rather than cutting ALL 200 triangle sets out to then be sewed; I sewed as I cut. I would cut one strip set, which usually led to 6-11 pairs, which I then took right to my sewing machine to piece. And, as Bonnie always says, I had quite a nice "MILE OF CHAINS" behind my machine.

Ironing isn't my favorite, but I didn't mind seeing the pieces come together. In fact, I never used to iron and would OFTEN be diappointed in the blocks I was producing. Well, DUH AMY, the seams never came together right; when I finally would iron, I would often have 'buldges' because the piecing just wasn't accuate! I am now a full-fledged IRONER!!!

So, right around 3:00, I was done with CC#5. (See all those little dog-ear pieces that were cut from the blocks! I WILL eventually start tossing those into old pillowcases as was suggested on the chatgroup. In fact, I'm thinking of sewing together some smaller pillowcases using fabric from my stash and make my own pillow forms using my tiny scrap throw-aways! The smallest pieces I keep now are 1" squares/strips.)

I am now taking a small break; updating the blog, checking email, resting my back and shoulders, kickin' back with some ice-water and relaxing. However, the main reason I'm on the computer is I need to print out CC#6. YEAH! Bonnie eluded to the fact that #6 starts putting all the pieces together.

So, once again, I'm off and sewin. In a few more hours, I am plannin on showing the progress.
Later.

Just like everyone else....

Is it REALLY going to be surprising when I say I worked on the OC #2 tonight!??!!?
My goodness---some of the ladies were so GOOFY with their posts while they were waiting (impatiently) for clue #2.

yeah, yeah, yeah....I'm sure I would have been the same way had I not needed to work today :0)

But...yeah....I set the CC aside for now to get a little start on #2. So far, as you can see from the picture, I've cut the 3.5 half-triangles, and started cutting the 2" half-triangles. I didn't realize how much RED scrap fabric I had!!! AND, this is the first project I've done where I've used the Easy Angle Ruler. How FUN!!! And EASY!! I'm not really going to rush this part; it DOES seem daunting though!! SO many pieces!!!

I have chosen to use the same "light" farbic for the OC quilt. I sure hope I have enough!!! I don't think it would look that great if I had to go "scrappy" now that all of my #1 and #2 "lights" are from the same fabric. We shall see.......

Here's the update on the CC too----I've started step #4 after completing step 3 the other night. Tonight, I DID finish cutting the 1.5" brown squares before starting in with the OC, though! I'm surprised I was so prioritized enough to do that!. This part of the CC ALSO seems daunting! Come on!!!!! 120 Little, Teeny, Tiny Triangles!!! YIKES!

And here we have all the CC steps 1-3 shown. I think I like the greens so far, but it's so hard to tell until it's all together!!!


DH is planning on taking the three girls to the "farm" (cabin up North that used to be an old farmhouse.) He's allowing me to just kick back, alone, and quilt away the weekend :0) *relaxing sigh*....I can't wait for some quiet time :0)