Progress, progress on UFO's

No OC tonight! I'm still only 30 blocks into OC#2, but, I figured----"eh....the pieces are all cut and bagged, so they'll be easy to transport to dear ol' 'Mom's,'" so I'll finish them up when I visit Thursday-Saturday.

So instead---it was a night of UFO's!!! First on the list, which WON'T be a UFO for long, is the Oklahoma Backroads (OB). (Yet another Bonnie pattern). I have decided to make this for my Dad for his retirement. It only makes sense (to me). I have to complete it in three weeks, so do I realllllly want to start something from scratch??!?!? Hmmmmmm....NO! So......I added 6 blocks tonight. I'm thinking 8 more blocks will finish it off, in addition to some borders. It'll be a perfect "lap-snuggler" quilt for all his daily naps!!!!

The "cool" thing about this pattern, is that I can create 2" Half-Triangle "off-shoots." So, after I ran out of 2.5x4.5 bricks for the OB, I figured....."hmmmm...it'd be a good time to square up the 1/2 triangles." Then, naturally, once they were square, I played with possible layouts....oooooo...the wheels are turning!

Then I pulled out my "Leaders-enders" box and pieced some of them into 4-blocks. A nice collection so far.........GOSH! I love what Bonnie has done to me!!!






Oohhhhh....and that makes me think about these Crumb Blocks. HA! Before December, these little pieces would have been in the trash, but not now. I "played" tonight with some of the scrappy crumbs I had from OC#1. I pieced this lower "wonky" 16 block. Then I took some scraps from my Kaleidoscope quilt and pieced the other crumb block in the picture.

Speaking of Kaleidoscope, I pulled those out tonight and squared them up. They are a bit smaller than the pattern needs them to be, but at least they are all the same!!! 9.25x9.25". I'll probably keep this to a crib size, or at least a small twin for my youngest.

Next.....this "Rolling Rock" block has been sitting half-complete for a couple of months, so I decided to attempt to complete it. Whew.....it HAS earned the "three thimble" rating! Yikes! I'm amazed it turned out as well as it did. My M-I-L had a wonderful idea of using a Yo-Yo as the center of the blocks! NEAT! I've never made a Yo-Yo, but it'll be a great opportunity to learn something from my MIL.

FInally, I didn't do any work on "Grandma's State" quilt, but I wanted to bring out all my UFO's and see the status of each. This....ooo....THIS is the MONSTER! Last summer, sure...I "inherited" all of Grandma's fabric stash and other quilting supplies. BUT, thats' ONLY because I helped my parents clean out her apartment and get things ready for auction. These "gems" was lurking in her quilting area. Who KNOWS how long they have been sitting???!?!? Then, the day after I came across the blocks, I found the BOOKS!!! All of these blocks are "State Patterns" from the Workbasket magainzes from the 80's. Grandma had finished 8 of the blocks, and I have completed 8 so far. They are a bit challenging because of how the patterns/directions are explained. The last block I worked on was in early January, and pictured here! It's my FAVORITE so far!!! The pink "flowered" pattern is actually cut from one of Grandma's shirt. This block ALONE took me about 12 "clock hours" from start to finish!

Soooo....that's it! I do believe this is ALLLL of my UFO's sitting around......
Ooooo....nope! Forgot about "Deer Camp," but I'll save that for another evening. I'm done with the top of that one; just need to sandwich and quilt away!!!


Happy Sewing!!!

Complete opposite of yesterday :0)

For how "icky" yesterday was, today was smooth sailing.....
*knock on wood*

I knew I needed to be Motivated, On-track, and use my time wisely during my Prep time for school. EVERYTHING on my checklist was completed, and then some.... (I had an unexpected 10 minutes "meeting" with the District Office, and I had two students from my Algebra class begging for some assistance with a System of Equations problem.)

Then----as soon as I arrived home (~4:15 pm), I first tackled folding two loads of clothes (one that was pulled out of my dryer on the way out the door this morning, and the one that dried while I was off to work). Plus, I've washed, dried, and folded two additional loads since then. The last load is in the dryer as I type :0)

Next, while dinner was cooking in the oven (sorry folks, nothing fancy tonight! Just a classic "all-American" frozen pepperoni pizza), I packed up all the girls' clothes and set the bags aside. At the same time (sorta), I packed up a couple of boxes of "no-longer-fitting" 2T's and 24 mnths clothes to be "handed down" to my husband's cousin. They have the cutest little girl!!! So, I have THREE boxes put together to give to them this weekend while I'm down "home." (Both DH and myself grew up in the same city, so most of our family members are still in the "home" area.)

And again, kinda at the same time, the entry way (where I was stashing all the boxes to be packed into the car tomorrow), was a disaster----dirty, dirty, dirty! So, I swept out a corner, started piling up the girls' bags and boxes of clothes, continued sweeping, shaking out the rugs (OMG!!!! Talking about DIRT!!!), cleared out the Winter boots and carried them downstairs, and "Swiffered" the floor. So.....YEAH! I'm packed, stacked neatly, reading to be packed in the car....AND, the Entry way is clean!!!

And what's even better......it's ONLY 6:30!!! I still have a whole night ahead to quilt!!!!!

So---I have intentions of tuning in later with a "quilting" update!

CC All done, but no label

The quilt is done, already packed away and wrapped to be gifted to my mother a weekend early for Mother's Day. The gas prices have finally hit home and have pushed us to alter our travelling plans. Since I am heading "home" this weekend, we have decided NOT to travel "home" again for Mother's Day.

Pictured here is the back, pieced by two different shades of pink flannels. I putzed around with the Fabric Printer Sheets since I haven't been able to hunt down any Bubble Jet Set. I'm frustrated! NOT because I can't find BJS, but I'm frustrated because the printer sheets just aren't working for me.....*sigh*.....I printed.....I waited 4 hours to "dry".....I ironed......I rinsed......*sigh*......and most of the ink washed away......
With the day I've had....I'm just throwing my hands up in the air and then forming a big "W" on my forehead for..."WHATEVER!" As you can see, the quilting was a simple geometric grid, with a little hand-quilted heart.







Not to "vent," but I just can't shake the ickyness of this day----and it's ONLY Monday! I'm a bit stressed this week due to my schedule. I had a 3 hour meeting today (12:15-3:30) for Curriculum Council, which I Co-Chair. Rather frustrating meeting today with many loose-ends hanging when the time chimed 3:30. *sigh* Because of the time of the meeting, I was not able to have my "prep" time to grade papers, write a quiz for tomorrow, etc. No biggy, IF the rest of the week wasn't so chaotic either! Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the only normal day for me this week. AND, it's the only day where I will actually have a "prep". Wednesday, we have a Teacher Inservice/Early Release day for students, so once again, no "prep." (My Prep time is 1:30 - 2:30). This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to get things ready for a substitute on Thursday AND Friday. (My state Math convention is this week.)
So........my "to-do" list tomorrow during my only prep this week:

• plan Thursday's schedules for Web Design, Math 8 and Algebra 8
  
• plan Friday's schedules for Web Design, Math 8 and Algebra 8
  
• Write HW Quiz for Algebra 8 (and maybe Math 8???)
  
• Create a Graph Handout for Math 8
  
• Plan for Monday's schedule (so that I'm not "winging" it when I come back next week!!!)
  
• Write last minute PO's to purchase calculators: deadline this Friday----oh yeah...which, by the way, we JUST were told today via email from our Superintendent
  
• prepare documents for IEP meeting after school
  

Other "to-do's" tomorrow

• Pack clothes for all three girls---to include outfits for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday??? (We might come home Saturday
  
• Print directions to Math Convention site
  
• all the other "mother" things we do everyday.....ya know..
  
  
  
  • laundry (specially since I won't be home until later this weekend)
    
  • dishes (god BLESS the inventor of the Dishwasher!)
    
  • pick up the house (because I HATE coming home to a dirty house after being gone)
    
  
  

Okay, I guess after listing out everything, things aren't completely as bad as they seem. But......it's just been a rough day!

Come ON already !!!((*&@^(*&^

Please, please please, please, please, please..............NO MORE SNOW!!!!!!!!
This was the "lovely" picture we woke up to today.......I am so TIRED of snow!!




Okay, now the NEXT frustration to get off my chest...!!!!!!
I put my "sandwich" together last night and started to quilt. I followed the suggestion of Amanda, and I decided on a simple meander.
*sigh*
Well folks....read on.....an LEARN from my mistake......
An hour and half into quilting, I decided to take the quilt out of the machine to see how equally spaced the meanders were. The top was about half complete, and looking okay. UNTIL............. I looked at the back!!!
My
Heart
Dropped!!!!!!!

Terrible!!!!!!!! My tension must be SO FAR OFF! The back looked terrible-----I can't even describe what it looked it----just.....BAD! No "nice, even" stitches, but rather.....loops coming from the "top thread", and ......GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
I sat for 5 minutes, wondering if there was ANY other option than pulling out the stitches......but..........*sigh*.

So, after a 10 minute break AWAY from the quilt (because I was so MAD!), I grapped the ripper.
The only good news about this situation-----it was rather EASY and QUICK to pull out most of the stitches because they were so loose! BUT STILL......I started "unsewing" at 7:00 pm, and pulled the last stitch at 12:13 am!! Non-stop!

So, here I sit, saturday morning, with the quilt sandwiched directly in front of me, WITHOUT a single stitch of quilting!!!!!!
AND, I have NO INTENTION of figuring out my tension problem right now. I don't have the patience.

So, Angela (soscrappy), I am going to follow your idea of a grid-line form of quilting. I really want to finish it this weekend!!! I don't know exactly if I'll be able to . We are supposed to go to the cabin today; in fact, we should already be on the road, but this weather is delaying us from making a solid decision.

*sigh*

TADA! The top is done

It's done! It's done! It's done!

For THAT, I'm happy.....

BUT.....

*sigh*.....NOW I'm hitting a road-block on how to quilt it. I seriously stood for 30 minutes...looking at the top quilt, moving around it to different view points, tried to picture different designs inside the blocks, around the blocks....should it be circular? or perhaps a simple meander? do I have the skill for a baptist fan?

AGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So, if any of you have ANY ideas, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave me a suggestion in the comments???...???....????

Here's a close up of the center, which I also used as the image on the label..

OH! WHICH, by the way, was done by using a piece of white fabric, IRONED to freezer-paper, and then......GET THIS-----Sent THROUGH my printer!.......BRILLIANT!!!!!!! I can't believe I never thought of doing that!!! There's NO POINT to investing money in the fabric sheets!!! This was an idea shared by someone from the QuiltvilleChat group......what awesome ideas that come thru the group!

A little more progress....

No pictures tonight, and I was only to put another hour into the CC. I pieced a few more rows together---I think I only have three more.

But, seriously, I must have stood for TEN MINUTES and stared at the layout-----eyes skimming over the rows----picking out some "exciting" areas----contemplating what color(s) to use as a border----what a perfect backing would be.....

THAT was a fun 10 minutes!!!!

Oh, Oh, OH!!!! And then I brainstormed about what I should use for quilting------to really ATTEMPT the infamous Baptist Fan on it, or to stay with a simple meander????----perhaps more of a swirl??......

Anyway...it's getting late, but I want to stop by a few blogs before logging off.

I hope to have the entire top pieced tomorrow evening :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.

Lovely, rainy Spring Morning

I woke up at 7:15, refreshed :0) I'm waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, so thought I would check emails, and I'm feeling compelled to put a post up showing this morning's weather. Spring is finally here! The weather is gloomy and raining and chilly today. What a perfect day to just sew, sew, sew.

If you note in the picture, we only have a WEE bit of snow left. Paul (DH) created a GI-NORMOUS snow hill for the girls back in December with our first huge storm, and there still is a bit left. Pictured is also the girls' play area----perfect spot! We can view most of our yard by viewing thru the main kitchen/dining area windows.

So, I'm off----with the HOPES of showing some fine quality pictures of the day's results later this evening. Happy Sewing Saturday everyone :0)

It's the WEEKEND!!! Bloglines?

I haven't sewed since Wednesday, nor will I bother tonight.
I'm beat, tired, wiped out, AND I need to catch up with reading some blogs and emails anyway.

First of all, I've been diligent tonight and graded three HW assignments, two quizzes, one test, and a class full of websites. Whew! That only took me three hours!!! BUT, I KNEW I needed to get them out of the way so that I can spend the rest of the weekend sewing without any "stresses" in the back of my mind. With that said, I STILL need to write a quiz and a test for Monday's Math 8 and Algebra 8 students, but that shouldn't take too long and I can take care of that tomorrow (or Sunday.)

Secondly, I was just visiting Amanda site and agreed with her! I don't know how people find the time to keep up with all these blogs!!! There are a few that I check regularly just because we've made some connections :0) In Amanda's comment section today there were two people who mentioned about "Bloglines."

BLOGLINES??? If ANYONE can help me out with what this is and how it works, I would be so grateful!!! I'm not tech-iliterate at all, but I just haven't heard about this.

Thirdly
I haven't run in weeks!!! Since I am ALONE all weekend, I am going to set another goal to hit the road sometime tomorrow to cover a few miles. I've lost my motivation; and sadly, the motivation usually doesn't return until Summer begins. I'm just so tired all the time. And if I'm not, I so "Quilt-obsessed" lately that running has taken the back-seat.

My To-Do list for the weekend is:
Continue sewing the CC clues. I'd like to gift this to my mother for Mother's Day (May 17?), so I need to keep clipping away at it. If I don't make any more progress on OC #2 this weekend, it won't bother me a lot. Since Bonnie is spacing the clues out around 2 weeks, I should have ample time to finish them before #3 comes.

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)

Not much sewing tonight

The late nights are catching up with me. I wasn't too bad in school today--I think I was my typical self. BUT, I started slowing down after dinner tonight.

At about 6:30 pm, I printed off CC#4 and started sewing the 1.5" strips for the "two-piece" pieces; cut all the 2 7/8" squares and only a few of the 1.5" squares. I started getting the girls ready for bed at 7:45, and by 8:10 all were nestled, teeth brushed, stories read----and I was DONE! Energy zapped! So, I went downstairs to turn everything off and hung up my rotary cutter for the evening.

I'm kickng back right now, feet up on the ottoman, rocking in the glider, watching some show on the Food Network Channel, and surfin.

A lot of great responses to the "Fabric Labels" post. One lady suggested ironing my fabric onto a freezer paper sheet and put through the printer! What genious!!!!!

On the topic of freezer paper, here's another link shared by a post:
http://purpleandpaisley.blogspot.com/2008/04/freezer-paper-piecing-tutorial.html
It's a UNIQUE way (at least to me) to utilize freezer paper WISELY and saves time! I'll have to try it with some of the quilt patterns for Grandma's 50 States quilt! Some of those blocks are near to impossible to piece!!!

Short and sweet tonight...
Perhaps I'll be up for more sewing tomorrow night!

Amazingly NOT tired today!

Whew---Once again I made a bad choice last night. Sure, I packed up the quilting area by 10:00, BUT...then, of course, I had to update the blog, check emails, look at Bonnie's site to be sure I agreed on the "Fun with Bricks" pattern, look at the next clue for CC.......

you get my drift......

by the time I finally hit they hay, it was midnight ONCE again! I thought I'd be the typical "evil-teacher-from-the-night-of-the-living-dead" today. However, a good cup of nicely sugared and Vanilla-creamed coffee this morning MUSt have done the trick, because I was raring to go all day, and, *looking at clock,* STILL am going at 10:25 pm!!! BUT, I'm going to wrap this up tonight--no new pics.

However, I DID complete CC #3 tonight---all 80 9-blocks are set. I will start tackling #4 tomorrow night.
I also started ironing a FEW more pieces from the stack, cut some 2" strips, and stuffed them into a bag from my Dad's quilt.

Goodnight-----HAVE to get sleep tonight.

The weekend is over...

Well folkies, after a short snooze with the girls, I spent some time browsing through Bonnie's site in search of a pattern for my Dad's retirement quilt that my mom has requested. I'm liking the "Fun with Bricks" pattern the best, with "Chunky Churndash" second in line.

I've been working on another of her patterns: "Oklahoma Crossroads" and I layed it out today to see how it was looking so far. I figured I could give that to my Dad, but....eh......there's something about it that doesn't fit him. But the "Fun with Bricks' layed out with the diagonal pattern seems to fit. I'm already thinking of a name...."The path of Retirement"....not sure yet.




The ironing is on hold! When I need some fabric, I'll iron it. Otherwise it's just going to sit until I feel in the mood again.
Poop! I wanted to take a picture of some fabric I came across today in the stash that might be a great border fabric for the CC I'm making.

But I did come across two other fabrics that wouldn't be my first choice when out shopping, but I kinda like em!
First of all, this strawberry pattern is screaming to be made into a "Strawberry Shortcake" quilt. Gonna keep my eye out for the perfect pattern...

Also, this rose pattern is SO PRETTY and ELEGANT! It doesn't fit in my house, but.....??? It'll be one of those fabrics that'll sit until that PERFECT MOMENT!







So anyway.....tonight, I finally got back to working on the CC. I started cutting a few more strips of Browns and Greens for part 3 around 6:00pm.
Candace fell asleep on her Dora couch, so Cassie and Catilyn joined me downstairs, plopped a movie in and relaxed after their baths. Meanwhile, I was sewing the strips together into the 3-grouping sets. At 8:00, I shushed them off to bed, read them a story, and then came back downstairs to sew some strips together.

Once I had the strips sewn and cut, I figured----DONE for the night. But..hmmm...it's only 8:50...it shouldn't take that long to sew them together, right??? So, off I went.
30 minutes later, I had only sewn 2 sets of 3-patches together. I wasn't about ready to put another 30 minutes in tonight to finish them up. SO, they will await until tomorrow to get the final pieces together for step three.

It was eerie downstairs tonight, alone. DH is gone for the weekend, fishing with buddies. So after I put the girls to bed and went back downstairs, I didn't turn the radio or TV on. I wanted to hear the girls if they needed me. It gave me time to hear my thoughts....and my first thoughts were..."What am I going to call this quilt? Am I just going to keep it Carolina Crossroads? Should I use the graphic Phyl shared with the group? What if my quilt is found in an antique shop 75 years from now---whoa...that would be weird! If that label is on there, it might be a Collector's item....wow...I wonder if anyone else has thought about that....?"

Then my thoughts moved to --- "Hmm...this would be a great gift to my mom for Mother's Day. Okay....that's about 4 weeks away...that should be enough time to finish this and quilt it. Ooo...but then will I have enough time to make Dad's quilt before his party the first weekend of June?...oh dear...."

I can't express through the right words what joining this group has done for me. I read the posts daily, respond personally to some, but learn so much! The links being shared are great!

A Blister! A blister!

*heavy sigh*
I'm a bit beat right now---I have been ironing non-stop for the past three hours-----THREEEEEEE HOURS! I've been washing up some of grandma's stash. It IS fun to see everything I've gotten from her, but I think I should have paced myself better. As soon as I finish up a basket of ironing, the next load has been more than ready for the iron. Between three-four hours yesterday and the three today, I've ACTUALLY worked up a small blister on my right hand!!!!

In fact, there are a few large pieces (2+ yards) that I simply haphazardly folded up out of the basket because I just didn't have the heart to iron them anymore. I'll get around to them sometime, but for now, they'll suffice in a stack in the corner.

So, I'm taking a small break--the girls are playing upstairs, lunch is cooking (Pizza, what else?), and I'm sitting back, catching my breath and reading emails. After lunch, I MIGHT go back to ironing; otherwise maybe I'll tackle the step #3 in CC.

The bike last week.....

I was working on updating some pictures on my website, and I came across this one. I thought it would be a great "BEFORE" picture as related the "SNOWY AFTER" picture listed in the last post :0)
Yeah...that helmet didn't come sized for her, but she was so IMPATIENT and wanted to start biking right away. Do you see her stocking feet??? She didn't even want to put shoes on. It's a good thing we have a large deck :0)

Happy Quilting!!!!

Tired, but productive today!

Whew....I'm kicking myself for staying up until midnight last night!
First off, I THINK the snow if finally finished. I couldn't believe we got about another 3-4 inches last night; and then at 10:00 this morning, it started AGAIN!

My daughter's 4th birthday was last weekend and we bought her a new bike. She LOVED it! Well, umm......as you can see, it's waiting for warmer weather again.






<--- At least he's been getting some more work the past couple of days :0)




Well, I've taken on the advice of a few Quiltville Chat members, and am washing ALL the fabric I have gotten from my Grandmother. I've been washing a load here-n-there all day, but haven't tackled ironing them yet. I will take that on later tonight, after sitting and relaxing for a bit.

I tackled a short stack of Cassie's (7 yr old) clothes that need a small fix each. Gosh, they were so easy, but can you imagine how long they've sat on the "to-do" pile? Seriously!!!!

Then I started cleaning up the quilting space. My quilting space is basically an unfurnished, incomplete basement room that will eventuallllly get done (???). Since I was almost clearing ALL the fabric off the shelves for washing (most of my stash is from my grandmother), I figured it made sense to clean the space. In doing so, I found my FAVORITE seam ripper that has been amiss for months!

Also, I came across an entire bolt of white fabric that my sister donated to me. She is NOT a "domestically inclined" person---she had purchased for one school project or another, but ended up using NONE, so.....woo-hoo! 18 yards of white fabric now belongs to me.



After lunch, I finally set out to accomplish by task for the day.....finish quilting one of my UFO's lying around since October.
This is also is a great picture showing how unfinished by quilting space is. You like that "construction worker's" light? Well, I don't have ANY outlets in the space---NONE! So, I have two heavy-duty extention cords coming in from two other outlets. And, I thought it only made sense to use a lighted extention cord; killing two birds with one stone. Let's see...what do I all have plugged into that one??? My sewing machine, two lights, a house-hold extention cord that is attached to two more lights and a radio. On the other heavy-duty extention cord, I ONLY have my iron plugged in. I've learned that I'll be blowing fuses left-n-right if I try to put anything else on that one. And besided, the out I have it coming from also runs the alarm for our sub-pump. I wouldn't want anything to happen there!!

The space isn't pretty, but it's functional, and MORE IMPORTANT, I don't have to pack everything up at the end of the day like I needed to when I was using the kitchen table upstairs :0)

I'm doing a simple meandering/stipple quilting in all the white areas of the blocks. But after starting again after so many months, I REMEMBERED why I had put it aside! For some frustrating reason, my thread keeps breaking. I'm not just talking once or twice...no...THAT I could handle. But, seriously.....it breaks just about everytime I get to a seam. May this possibly be a lesson learned------Press seams open if I plan to quilt that heavily again!

But, success! I finished quilting all the blocks. All that remains is to do something in the borders --- probably just stitching in the ditch along the horizontal pieces.

So, it's 6:19 and I'm tired. My girls are relaxing with a Dora movie, and I'm tempted to "rest my eyes a bit." (snicker-snicker.)
Actually, I'll probably head downstairs and start tackling the basket of washed fabric. I can't wait to see it all pressed, folded and organized on the shelves. And even better, I HOPEFULLY won't have to worry about a gunking iron anymore now that I KNOW all the fabric lacks starch. :0)

Quilt Projects Update

Okay folkies, now that I've submitted THIS addy for the Webring, I better get it updated!!!
Please remember (if you have time to kill), you can always get the "day-to-day" quilting life of ME by following the link to my website. Lately, I have been doing a good job of keeping it up-to-date daily (at least since April 1.)

Okay, as for the Orange Crush (OC)---yes, I'm doing it. I was actually the second person to post a picture on the OC #1 Photos spot on the Quiltville Chat site. I'm NOT boasting that I have no life and all the time in the world. It just so happened that I had a snow day on April 1st, so I was able to quilt ALLLLL Day!
My colors are very similar to that of Bonnie's.


Since it was a snow day, I utilized the "entry-level-math-skills" of my 7 year old, Cassie. I had her cut my continuous 2-pieces into piles of 10 to see when I was getting close to the 300-mark. She also helped me iron all the 4-patches once completed.
So, like many of you, I patiently await Clue #2 now that Clue #1 is complete.

In the meantime, since I joined this Chat group much later than most, I have decided to take on the Carolina Crossroads (CC) quilt. I really didn't decide to take this on until two days ago. So, Wednesday night, I set off downstairs to my quilt-hide-away at 8:30 pm and started sorting through the stash. To my amazement, I was able to pull out quite a few scraps in the greens, browns, and pinks. These colors aren't my typical, but they seem so "grandma-ey" (since I plan to make it for a guest bed at my mother's house) and, at the same time, remind me of some bubblegum quilts I've seen.
So.....off I went.

I started strippin' away with my pinks (accent color) and greens to make the 100 rails needed in clue #1. By 10:15, I needed to head upstairs to get some updates on my website before getting to bed by 11:00.

So---Thursday evening, I head downstairs around 8:30 to try to finish the rails. SUCCESS! At 11:00, I was finally able to clip the last rails together. AND, to my surprise.....not only did I have a "few" extra,--I have EIGHTY---that's 8-0 EXTRA! So, I have a few ideas in mind: make two quilts OR use the extras in a different scrap quilt OR use the extras in a border upon completion.

The joy of living in Wisconsin in April------SNOW DAY TODAY! AGAIN!!!
What did that mean?
Another day to dedicate to quilting! So, Clue #2, here I come.

I didn't think making 100 9-blocks was going to take that long. HA! How wrong I was!!! I headed downstairs around 8:30 this morning.....and with only a FEW breaks today, I wasn't able to press that last 9-block until 5:10 pm!!!
Whew......I'm wiped out of 9-blocks!


HAHAHAHA!!! With that said. Once I finally sat down tonight to update the website with the latest pictures, I looked ahead at Clue #3 to see what I would be working on tomorrow!!!
OOOOOOOOUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!! More 9-blocks!
Don't get me wrong---I love 9-blocks. They really are easy to piece. But today kinda wiped me out.

So.....maybe I'll apease Cassie and finish up a quilt that has been only half-quilted since October. (I told her it could be hers when I started making it.) I think that'll be a great way to utilize tomorrow. I shouldn't need more than tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to show a FINISHED picture on here tomorrow!

Whew.......I caught up with the two mysteries I'm taking on from Bonnie's site. Like the rest of you, I have more UFO's sitting around----or actually, I'm going to call them WIP's. (Works in progress.) Because really....I try to touch base with all of them at least once a week.
But, those will wait for another day.