I almost forgot Success #4: Perkiomen Daydreams

DONE-DONE and hung!

A Sunday of sewing; Stash Report Febr. 22-28

Paintbox of Color had borders added, a backing pieced, and sandwiched, awaiting the return of my Bernina for quilting... (Note the quilt name-change).

The final NICU quilt was sandwiched (three total now), also awaiting the return of my Bernina for quilting....

I pulled a classic "glance-around-the-quilting-room-for-what-to-work-on-next" move...and grabbed a stack of unpieced UFO blocks (Steppin' Out - dyed). I spent about an hour piecing those into "arrow" blocks, awaiting the next step. Hmmm...maybe this will be the March UFO from Nancy??


Jade's Hearts also saw some progress. Ten "connector blocks" were pieced today, and loads and loads of HST's are still attached to the machine at the moment...

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Last night, while watching the Olympic coverage, I put the final stitches on the Perkiomen Daydreams label.

A lovely shot of Carol's quilting via the back. **wave** Hi Carol!!!.

Now I really need to convince hubby to get out his ladder so we can get this hung on the wall for one final DONE-DONE picture :0)

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Stash Report: February 22-28
Used this week: 7.854 (more Curtains, Paintbox blocks, Nicu & Paintbox backings)
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Used-to-date 2010: 70.735 yards
Purchased-to-date 2010: 86.25 yards
Net used: -15.515 yards
Woohoo--another couple of weeks and I should be back "in the black" :0)

Perkiomen Daydreams -- top done!

It happened
it finally, finally happened...

The Top Is Done :0)


Some of the odds-n-ends that made their way into the quilt...

Mid-morning break...

ALL BLOCKS ARE DONE!!!
12 rows are already sewn and waiting for these last 8....
This morning...
...I finished the last of the 400 blocks....
...I have sewn two of the rows together....
But I needed to refill the coffee, so decided to take a little break.
((do you see the other blocks stacked on the right? That will be my next project: Chunky Churndash for my parents))

In the meantime, I hear this from the upstairs...
Cass: "MOM! Can Caitlyn and I clean the bathroom mirror?"
Me: **um, duh....** "Of course sweetie!"
**5 minutes later**
Cass: "MOM! Caitlyn and I have this great idea--can we clean the rest of the house??"
Me: **am I in heaven**... "That sounds wonderful girls!"
**10 minutes later**
Caitlyn: "MOM! Can we clean to windows too?"
Me: **are they serious--they should know my answer** "Sure honey! Go right ahead!"
**upstairs now on my break, looking at overly sprayed, streaky windows and a rag that I could squeeze to refill the Windex bottle**
BUT....it's the thought that counts :0)

A day off of school entailed...

A little bit of quilting....

...and a movie!

The movie was very enjoyable, and SO nice that it followed the book (much better than Twilight).

Tomorrow---more quilting. Maybe the Perkiomen Daydreams top will see a finish.

Happy Friday

I lovely Saturday (and Sunday), it was

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

First, SORRY for no pics. After lunch today, I had ALL intentions of heading back downstairs to do some final piecing, but one thing lead to another and I found myself actually NAPPING for 30 minutes. And now, I'm simply too lazy to go down to snap the pics.

So, what was accomplished?
I was downstairs for most of the day yesterday (until 5:00), and then again this morning (9:00-noon). Strip sewing, strip sewing, and more strip sewing. I am nearing the end of piecing all 400 blocks needed for the Perkiomen Daydreams. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.

I have volleyball tonight...
yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I said Volleyball was over. Let me clarify---COACHING m'high school volleyball girls is over, but I (and hubby) still play Sunday evenings in an adult coed league. INTENSE FUN volleyball! So, I plan to just relax, do some catching up online before needing to head out (in ONE hour!!!) Holy buckets....

Anyway, after returning from vball, maybe I'll head downstairs to snap a pic or two.

It feels good catching up on laundry
It feels good to have a clean (SEMI-clean) counter -- dishes done
It feels good to have SEWN!
But I haven't prepped for the week yet for my Math classes, so I really should spend some time with that tonight.

Happy Sunday!

My bi-weekly check - in: Volleyball and quilting! What better life is there??? :0)

Heya, heya. TWO MORE WEEKS and then my life will slow back down (okay...maybe THREE!!!) State volleyball is three weeks aways; this week brings on Regional tournaments and I am very hopeful for the girls to make it to the Finals. HOWEVER, the dreadful bugs have started working through the squad -- one of my players just texted me, saying she was at a 102.6 fever and throwing up. UGH UGH UGH!

We had our 6-team invitational yesterday, and did about as good as expected -- 3rd. We're a small school, and we always put ourselves up to the challenge of player larger schools. The two teams ahead of us were division 3 schools (we are division 4). We did beat one division 3 school (4th place) and two division 4 schools (5th and 6th). Tuesday brings on our first Regional game, which we SHOULD come away quite easily with a victory. Then, we will advance to Friday's Regional Semi-final and we need to be firing on all cylinders to get beyond that match. GOOD LUCK GIRLS!!!

I spent all day today doing laundry, updating volleyball statistics and working on Pre-Calculus problems for the upcoming week. I wanted to get some quilting done, but that sadly just didn't happen today.

However, last weekend, I DID find some time to sew :0).....

I needed to clear up some floor space, so I buckled down and sewed together 12 rows of Perkiomen Daydreams. As soon as the vball season ends, THIS will be the project that I tackle full-force, because my lovely PIF lady (Carol - Cornfield Quilter) agreed to quilt it as my PIF gift. HOW INCREDIBLE IS THAT?!?!?!

As leaders-enders, I kept sewing up some hour-glass blocks for my Chunky Churndash.

I also pulled out a top that my MIL requested to be quilted by me. I washed up the backing and sandwiched it all together. I'll have to keep looking at it until I get inspired with a quilting design, because I'm clueless right now as to how I will quilt it. ANY SUGGESTIONS WILL BE GREATLY, GREATLY APPRECIATED :0) :0) :0)

Off to catch up on all of your lives....

Happy Sunday!

Chunky Churndash on hold... in the meantime...

Sadly, I haven't had a chance to get to the LQS to see if I can find the perfect gray for the Chunky Churndash yet, nor can I see the trip possible until Friday. So......

In the meantime....



Bonnie Hunter's Perkiomen Daydreams has seen some more progress. If my math is correct (remember, it's the summer and my brain takes a vacation sometimes!), I have 256 (of the 400) blocks completed. Laying them out certainly wasn't all that easy, but definitely exciting. This quilt is HUGE! I will not be able to lay all 400 blocks out at any one time. The quilt is 100"x100" (when complete). My game plan is to piece it into two halves (top 10 rows and the bottom 10 rows).
HA! After publishing comment...
Just to give you an idea of the size----that is a twin size mattress resting on its side at the top of the pic. I didn't even see it until after posting live!

I have been sitting, relaxing (with WINE again!!!!), and watching the evening news. FINALLY there was a heart-warming (and tear jerking) story. I don't know if any of you watched the ABC World News (with Charles Gibson) this evening, but there was a story about some individuals who came to the need of a turned-over vehicle in Milwaukee (Wisconsin). (watch it here: Rescue ABS News video. When there are stories that involved children in the age ranges of 3-9, they usually have a bigger impact on me since those are the ages of my girls. There was a 4-year old boy strapped in his carseat in the back of the flaming vehicle; and my heart just went out to the gentlemen fighting to get him out! It is so wonderful to be reminded of the good that does exist in our world when we are bombarded FAR too much with all the violence-involved news stories.

I don't know if I feel up to quilting tonight; at least I don't at the moment. It feels good to just veg and look around at my much neglected house. **sigh** Okay, so it doesn't feel good actually seeing the mess, clutter and unkeptness; it actually gets me stressed out a bit because of the guilt I feel! But...doing nothing does feel nice.

Happy Tuesday

TEMPTATION! I-could-not-resist!

Oh dear....oh dear. Pay NO attention to how many UFO's and WIP's I have listed on my side-bar!
Today in the mail, my Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine came, and the quilt on the cover chanted to me while I strolled back to the house, sifting through the pages----"make me! make me! make me!" Now, who am *I* to ignore a whimpering call like THAT?!?!?!? It was seriously 15 minutes after walking into the house, and I was downstairs, shoving aside all the
Perkiomen Daydreams strip-sets I had been dutifully working on earlier today (and was clippin' along SO WELL!!!!) I mean....LOOK! There are an additional 100 blocks in the making right here.........*sigh*





But, nope....I dug into the stash and found EVERYTHING I need to make this quilt. So, a cut, cut, cutting I went, right up until the moment I needed to dash out the door for volleyball tonight. I am PUMPED to jump right in tomorrow morning after taking the girls to summer school, and after running 4 miles with Candace (in the joggin' stroller). I LOVE this quilt and am glad I have finally found the perfect pattern to use of the stash of 30's Reproduction frabrics I've been saving up. The name of the quilt in the mag is Grandma's Stars, but mine will most likely be called Candace's Stars, since I think this one will be made for her. She is the only one who hasn't had a quilt made from Mom yet.....

I am not feeling TOO guilty at diving into a new project, because even though I have a ba-zillion other projects going on, I HAVE been quilt-busy the past couple of days....

The Double Wedding Ring wall-hanging I'm making for the family friend is as complete as it'll get from me. It is ready to be handed over to the father of the groom for a custom frame to be made for it.






Also, I have been working on some PIF projects. Naturally, I don't want to show the entire projects, but here's a sneaky-peek :0)





HAPPY Wednesday!

UFO/WIP progress day...

Our company (BIL and family) headed home early this morning; around 10:30 am. I headed out the door to town after a quick shower to pick up a few items, and was back home around 11:30. After some quick lunch, I headed downstairs. I needed to clear up some carpet space to make room for the Perkiomen DayDream layout since I completed a few more blocks during some downtime yesterday afternoon. I started by basting up my smaller sample for my quilting class coming up next week. This is called Paddington's Class Act and will be quilted with some simple diagonals along the length of the quilt.

Next came the Lake -n- Lodge wall-hanging. I already had the backing set aside, so after a quick pressing, that got basted up as well and added to the "to-quilt" stack.





My Scrappy Irish Chain blocks were still laying along the edge of the carpet area, and rather than shooshing them further off into some other location, I decided to just get them pieced into the top and set it aside. By dinner time, the final stitch on the top's borders was put in. After dinner, rather than just adding it to a "flimsy" stack, I decided to gather up some fabrics to use as the backing. One thing lead to another, and this quilt found itself basted as well (after searching high-n-low for some more safety pins!!)


So, I now have a stack of four tops awaiting on a pile to be quilted; the three listed above and the Country Spirit.

Finally, what I had been waiting ALL DAY to do was to layout my PK Daydreams blocks. Rather than going with Bonnie's layout this time, I played around for half-an-hour and ended the night with this. There are now 100 blocks (10x10 layout), which equates to 2,500 squares.



This week should be quite relaxing without anything going on in the evenings, other than VBall Wednesday night. Hopefully I'll be able to get some of these quilted and rack up the "completions" for February! :0)

Lovely "mental health" day, with another to come!

Ahhhh....lovely, lovely day today! The day started with a phone call at 5:57AM saying "This is the Hollywell Instant Messaging System with a message from Shell Lake Schools---there is no school today."

Now, TYPICALLY, when the alarm goes off at 6:00 AM, I drag my butt to the shower and convince myself to get the day going off on the right foot, and SMILE. Today, THAT didn't take ANY effort! I was up and out of bed by 6:10AM (couldn't sleep anymore), put the coffee on, made up some Lemon-poppyseed muffins, and logged on to catch up on emails. Amazingly, I wasn't in any superbig hurry to get downstairs to sew. In fact, once the house woke up and Cassie realized school was cancelled, Candace and I threw a movie into our bedroom TV and snuggled up in bed. The next thing I knew, it was 10:00! WOW! I NEVER allow myself to just "veg" and NOT have anything to do!

By 10:30, I headed downstairs while the girls played. DH has also been home all week due to the blistery cold temps! His crew doesn't have any "inside' work right now, so, he's been paying Domestic Man.

I'm still "strippin'" up a storm for Perkiomen Daydreams. Here is an extreme example of the wide range of non-matching fabrics that Bonnie always mentions. I haven't held anything back, except for a collection of pink strips that just don't fit as a "dark" OR a "light." Which is fine, because I HAVE decided I will eventually made the DoubleDelight mystery of Bonnie's and it calls for 1.5" inch pink strips. Perfect!

Little did I know that DH was getting a bit "sneaky" with the camera today! However, he hasn't used the new camera yet, so he used a setting that wasn't too great for the basement lighting. These pictures actually are kind of nice, because it gives you a good idea of how "non-finished" my sewing space is (AND how messy it is ONCE AGAIN!)




Here-n-there throughout the day, I worked on piecing and cutting the strips, and eventually I had a nice stack of the 5 different sets called for by the pattern. Then another here-n-there throughout the afternoon and evening, the strip sets got pieced into 5.5" blocks.



And v'iola! The first mini-layout with 85 blocks. Only 315 more to go! Seeing it on the floor---the pattern is "eye-boggling" close up. It's not until you back away when the illusion takes over. So cool! I can't wait to see this baby finished!

AND------YES! The phone just rang an hour ago with my school's Instant Alert Message.....NO SCHOOL tomorrow again! Yes! We haven't been out of the negative degrees at all today, and tomorrow looks to be much of the same until later in the afternoon when the subzero temps and windchill is expected to finally break. So......this means another unexpected day of quilting :0)

My parents arrived tonight around 6:00. My mom was also happy our school got called off so she can spend the day with all THREE girls since Cassie won't have to go to school. It's a bit after 10:00pm, and I'm really thinking of calling it a night even though I can sleep in for the next THREE days!

Hopefully you all are receiving some "luck" in your little corner of the world.
Happy Thursday from frigid Wisconsin.

A new project....

Angela has my permission to scold me on this one!

Recall that I am finishing up some UFO's (Scrappy Irish Chain & Oklahoma Backroads) before possibly taking on Bonnie's DD Mystery. Yeah, well, everytime Angela has emailed me, she drops not-so-subtle hints that I need to do the Mystery...

so......what do I do?????

Start a NEW, DIFFERENT Bonnie design! I have been so intrigued with Perkiomen Daydreams since I've seen it in Bonnie's book (here's a sneaky-peek). Tonight, I started digging in the 1.5" bins. I already had a stack of reds and yellows set aside knowing I wanted to eventually make this pattern.



Two hours later, my once clean sewing room looks like my 1.5" bins have exploded! Light strips cluttered on the floor; darks on the table, reds/yellows on a different part of the table; sewn strips hanging out on the ironing board and cutting mat; chain of strips behind the machine.

This was an unplanned evening of sewing. Originally, DH and I (with the girls) were going to head up to the farm for his family's last C'mas. But both he and I were simply NOT in the mood to drive 2 hours, so we "relaxed" tonight and will head up tomorrow morning. Naturally, my form of relaxation is to piece!

Interesting fact about Amy (and DH): See that mug in the picture? DH picked up a set of 6 mugs in Montana when we were on our honeymoon. They are downright my FAVORITE mugs (and they BETTER be for the price he paid!!!)! They are so heavy and big! In the mug tonight: Lemon "zinger" tea with small packet of sweet-n-low.

It's nearing 10:00pm, and I'm wiped out. I'm thankful it's the weekend, but truthfully I wish we could just stay home rather than travel. ANY amount of travel just makes for a quicker (and more stressful) weekend. *sigh*

However, I do hope that all of you out there enjoy YOUR weekend and hope you are able to piece up a storm!
Happy Friday!