"She does it again!"

First, a HUGE thank you out to Angela (SoScrappy) for taking some time to throw an idea my way regarding my July UFO, Wafer Cookies. Particularly her suggestion of using the larger set of blocks for the border. BOY! Did THAT suggestion get the light-bulb burning bright!! However, after playing with the blocks, I did just the opposite layout, and threw in some "connector" blocks...

For much of the morning, I went straight-away, working on it. Inspiration and renewed excitement kept me pluggin and pluggin away today. The top is ALMOST complete; the last 2" border will be placed on tomorrow. WOW! THANKS ANGELA!


An update on Candace's Stars. The other night before the binding was on, I brought it upstairs to show DH.
Me: So, what do you think?
DH: Who's is that?
Me: Candace's
DH: ((**raises eyebrow**)) Ya think it's big enough???
Me: Well, she'll grow into it...
DH: I really like it
Me: ME TOO!
DH: It's too good to give to her
Me: HA
Well, currently, it is being schlept up-n-down the stairs everyday, between her bed and the couch for movie-snuggle time.
Me: Candace, do you like your quilt?
Candace: Ya momma, my kwuilt is purty
Cailtyn: Candace, that's not a quilt, it's a blanket
Candace: NO! It's a kwuilt! And it's mine! Right momma?
Me: Yes, Candace, it is yours and yes, it is a quilt.
Cailtyn: Oh, it's a quilt because you made it, Mom?
Me: Yes, Cailtyn
It will definitely be an heirloom--this has now become my FAVORITE quilt I've made of all times.

And now to the title of this post......
Yup! I'm doing it again! Starting yet another project. HOWEVER, it is only because while working on Wafer Cookies, I needed to make 5 more larger blocks. So, off to the 2.5" bin I went; it was OVERFLOWING! As I was digging around, I started thinking that maybe I should try to find a pattern that uses 2.5" strips. When I checked emails this afternoon, I also took a moment to look over at Quiltville to see what I could find. Lo-n-behold, Star Struck struck my fancy, so I started digging around tonight and started sorting the fabrics. At first, I was going to just go completely scrappy, but I didn't realize I had so much BLUE! So....blue it was and whites/yellows. I only added in the yellows because I thought this would be a great quilt for a possible student or even Cassie (or myself) because our school colors are blue-n-gold (yellow). At one point, it looked like the 2.5" bin exploded in my sewing room with strips all over!!!
Candace came to see what I was up to and grabbed the camera. She's becoming quite the photographer of "mommy." Actually, it's kinda neat to see the world from her height. The first 8 blocks went rather quickly and easy. The blue stars really are getting lost because I used some light blues as "blues" instead of "lights/whites". I have now removed all light blues from the blues and will only use medium and dark blues. These 8 will just get thrown in here-n-there; I'm really not obsessing too much; scraps are getting used up and I'll be making a complete quilt without buying anything new.

So, I had some great progress again today. However, I have a new mathematical equation I realized today:

Good quilter = Bad housekeeper

My house is being neglected, as is the garden. I've gotten a bit obsessed with quilting again; but I don't think I needed to make that statement, huh? I simply MUST take a break from quilting again, but, well... I'd like to get Wafer Cookies to a completed flimsy, at least, and I still need to finish up the DWR pillow-sham quilting.

The holiday weekend hits tomorrow and we'll be heading up to the farm for the weekend. I don't think I'll be taking any quilting projects with me. **Shrug** Not sure yet.....

Happy Thursday. Oops---scratch that! Happy Friday (12:09 AM right now)
---I need to stop drinking coffee in the evening---

A NEAR finish; and inspiration hits at 10:00!!!

Candace's Stars (Granny's Stars) is nearly completed. All that remains is the binding, so one good hour should see it completed. Maybe tomorrow night???
However, I won't have much time tomorrow to do any quilting because I'll be at school, sitting on an interview panel for a new JH SS position....

I was finished with all the border attachments and quilting by 11:00 this morning; I should have just bit the bullet to put the binding on, but I sat back and admired a little too long; then lunch hit. 

Afterward, I just twiddled and tidied the sewing room (VERY LITTLE).  I pulled out some recent purchases over the past month and ironed/folded.
While doing so, I was inspired by some of the newly purchased "shirtings," the darkest blue in the pic and the red on bottom left;  I dug through my fabric to see if there were other "civil-war-looking" fabrics and came up with what is pictured.  Now....those will sit together (probably for the next year or so) while awaiting the perfect pattern.

Trust me!  There is something to waiting for that perfect pattern.  I had been collecting those FQ's and Fat-eighths of 30's fabrics for over a year (the ones that went into Candace's Stars). 

And speaking of 30's fabrics...

tonight, after taking some time to do a little more quilting on the DWR (**SIGH**--that quilt is starting to be the new monkey-on-my-back!)

Anyway, I got back into "tidy-mode," and ironed/folded some more of my fabrics that have been sitting for some time!  Then, I came upon my "scraps" of the 30's fabrics.  Golly, that pattern REALLY over-estimated the amount needed.  It called for 21 FQ's----HA!  I DID (amazingly) have 21 different fabrics, but once I started unfolding them, I found out MANY of them were only fat-eighths!  No biggy---I had PLENTY, with quite a bit left over. 

It was nearing 10:00 (PM), and suddenly I was INSPIRED!  I took exactly ONE minute to walk across the room to the exact spot that THIS PATTERN had been lain out, patiently waiting if (and when) I would ever make it.

Clearly, I didn't have any Charm Pack, but with about 30 minutes of cutting, I had all 24 - 5" squares needed, and 64 - 2.5" squares.  AND---what's more...I was given a "sign!"  I had used all of my white muslin up on the DWR and Candace's Stars, so I had to hunt around to see what I had in white.  I pulled a crumpled pile of white (NO LIE!  It was very crumpled from washing/drying MONTHS ago!) from the floor and ironed/folded it.  I had JUST enough for what was called for, with only a little string left.  Yup---it was meant to be!

Anyway---after another 10 minutes, I cut all the 5" squares in half, but really didn't want to sit and sew.  My movie had ended just after 10:00, and it had been so quiet that I didn't want to disrupt the silence with my machine.  All bodies had gone to bed at 10:15, so... it was so peaceful.

Instead, I prepped all 64 of the Prairie Points needed.  Golly!  Those things are TINY!  Can you kinda guesstimate from the pic?  It started as a 2.5" square.  This will be the first quilt I've made using Prairie Points.

This quilt should be easy enough.  It sure would be nice to have another finish by the end of June (umm...yeah...that'd be tomorrow).  But, I promised to take Cassie for a short run tomorrow night;  she'll be running the kid's 1/2 mile at my 5K race next weekend over at my sister's city.

So, 4 minutes to midnight---I suppose I better TRY to get to bed. BUT, #3 (Candace) had a late nap (5:00 - 8:30!!!) and is WIDE awake watching Wow-Wow-Wubzy and eating a bagel. Oh dear.....I'll give her 15 more minutes, THEN I'll tie her down and tape her eye-lids shut if I need to.

Happy Midnight!

FINALLY! Some "Amy" progress!

I didn't know what else to title this post with, but I felt that last night I FINALLY got back into the "quilting-grove" tempo!

I headed downstairs after dinner and didn't really surface again until 12:30!!!! (I did take a few moments at 9:00 to shoosh the girls to bed since DH was in the tub, relaxing after yet another HOT day of work.)

It was another lovely "one-thing-lead-to-another" evening. I needed to piece some backing for Granny Star's second section, and wouldn't you know it!---I was JUST short of white fabric by about 2 inches!!! So, rather than scappin' it totally, I simply took some of my scraps from sewing the top and pieced an 80" strip by 3 inches wide...and v'iola! A cute, slightly pieced, back! I didn't take pics of it, but it sure is cute. Kinda reminds me of what Crazy Mom Quilts does with her backs (see blogroll on left to visit her site).

I followed SOME of the suggested quilting from the magazine, but not all. The middle of the quilt is finished and even pieced together. It simply awaits borders now; which I just MAY get to today.

But first, I want to see if I can actually finish my June UFO Challenge, which I pulled out last night. You may recall seeing Country Spirit waaaaay back in January! As many projects do, it was set aside with other "to-do's" happened. But also, I didn't have the passion to really work on it much anymore because each block's quilting took a WHOLE HOUR! I was using a walking foot, and I got so tired of stopping and pivoting the quilt for the next "line" of quilting. It was so putzy!

When I pulled it out again last night, a light-bulb hit me----I thought of trying the BSR (bernina stitch regulator) with the "echo-quilting" foot instead of the normal FMQ foot. WOW! Was it quicker (since I didn't need to always turn the quilt in-and-out-and-around the machine bed! The lines didn't come out as "crisp" as they did when I used the walking foot, but.......

....it's DONE! (well, almost!) Binding still needs to be put on, as well as a label, and then I need to hand-sew the connector strip on the back. It is definitely small---a lap quilt, if that. Perfect for a wheel-chair! I missed the goal of getting this to Alycia (Alycia Quilts) by April, but she is already working on a collection for the next "deployment." This quilt WILL get finished today! (Specially since it's raining out right now and is forecast to rain all morning.)

Happy Saturday to y'all!

Where does the time go???

Good golly, Miss Molly! You'd think with "summer vacation" here, time would be coming out my ears to get this project and that project done!
Well....time sure is available....it's just getting filled with everyone BUT sewing! Typically my days consist of waking, getting the two older girls off to summer school by 8:15, then Candace and I go out for a run/walk/bike ride until 9-9:30. Home we go for a little snack. THEN I might actually get some sewing time, either that or we head outside for garden-time. Lately, it's been a lot of garden time! By 2:00, back to picking up the girls from summer school, then the rest of the afternoon......golly! I dunno! Time just flies. THEN, once DH comes home from work and we eat dinner, then it's outside for the rest of the evening to work on one garden or the other.

Last night, though....I asked DH if he minded if I "take the night off" of gardening to get some sewing done. Afterall....LOOK! This is the disarray of my basement carpeted area right now!

I have found time to complete quilting one (of the three) sections for the DWR. But, since I'm seeing stipples in my sleep, I decided to take a break from it and return to Granny's Stars. Last night, I was able to put all the rows together and will be quilting it in two sections. The first section was basted after piecing some backing, and still remains under the machine.

When I finish this post, I'm off to downstairs for a couple of hours. The girls have the task of cleaning up the loft area if they want to go to the Library later this afternoon---it's the deal we worked out. G'ma and G'pa might be coming up this weekend, and the loft is a disaster!

Happy Friday AM!

Sewing, Sewing and more sewing

Bright and early (okay...so maybe not at the crack of dawn), but by 9:00 am Saturday morning, MIL and I were hittin' the sewing machines with a large goal at hand: finish all 56 DWR blocks and the 30 half-blocks. We had a lovely assembly line going at one point; Caitlyn brought a stack of prepped blocks over to us, Candace refilled our yellow corner triangle stacks, Bonnei (MIL) and I sewed them on...

... and Cassie ironed them over. By 11:00, everyone was ready for a short break, so we made up some brunch of left-over spaghetti hot-dish and toast. Afterwards, DH packed the three girls up in the car to head over to do some work for the father of the groom; he also took the DWR wall-hanging with him so Paul (father) could work on the custom frame. With uninterrupted sewing time, MIL and I were able to finish up the full block by 12:30. Needing a little break, we headed in to town to pick up a few things at Walmart, and NATURALLY I needed to check over the fabric section. THIS is one Walmart that has a SUPER selection of "budget-priced" fabric. I came away with 7 yards of fabric spending only $14.00 on it; LOVELY bright colors (sorry, no pic yet).

Through the rest of the afternoon and today, MIL and I have finished all blocks, sewed rows together into three sections for me to quilt, and we even prepped for two pillow shams. During some "down-time" last night, MIL and I worked as a tag-team on my yo-yo's for Granny's Stars (Candace's Stars). She cut out the circles, and I sewed the yo-yo's. I have 28 of 36 done. (Sorry, no pics of those either.

When walking outside yesterday, Cassie saw this butterfly on the porch window. Only after taking the picture, did we realize the tiny blue sections of the wing; but we actually wondered if the butterfly's wing was see-through in those pieces, and we were actually seeing the window frame. ?????

Finally, on the running-front; I did not run yesterday :0( One excuse: I was tired in the morning. Then another excuse: it was HOT all day! Then the final excuse; dinner was DELICIOUS (and late) last night, so I was too full to run before the sun-light disappeared.

BUT, tonight, I dutifully tried to at least make the best of it by running a aerobic-interval workout; it ended up being 3 miles.

So...I now have my hands full of quilting projects: DWR, Granny's Stars, and a third project that my MIL wants me to quilt for her. It's a lovely Grandmother's Flowers-like top; pics will make their way on here tomorrow.

Hopefully you all had a lovely weekend!
Happy Sunday.

Granny's Stars progress...

Oh yes, we have progress! I suppose going a night without sleep shouldn't affect me too much???? **wink**
Nah.... BUT I did forego my run yesterday (and today) :0( I will definitely hit the pavement tomorrow and Sunday while up at the farm.

We will be heading out to the farm soon. Pizza is in the oven, all laundry is almost done (one more load in the dryer), luggage is packed as well as the sewing machine and quilting supplies for tomorrow's quilting-day with MIL. We hope to finish all 56 DWR blocks (and 30 half-DWR blocks) and sew rows into three sections for me to quilt over the next week or so. We are ahead of schedule :0)

Back to Granny's Stars (ie: Candace's Stars) I have the border applique and yo-yo fabric packed for the trip up to the farm. I figured we'll have light the entire way there, so I might as well make use of the near 2 hours travel time. I've never made a yo-yo before, but my trial turned out just fine. (pictured in the right of the photo). My MIL has her yo-yo maker up at the farm, so I'll see if that goes any quicker. I have freezer-paper "ironed" on for the leaves and petals; however, I won't be turning any seam allowances over. I tried a sample leaf with seam allowance, and it's just too down-right putzy! I should have used paper-backed fusible, but instead I'll just put a dab of glue (washable glue-stick) on each piece to hold it in place while I applique it---this way there won't be ANY stiffness due to use of any fusible.

Okay---pizza buzzer just dinged. See you all back on Sunday!