Twelve hours, and I didn't want to quit!!!

It was another 5AM alarm that eagerly roused me from bed (although I had been awake since about 4:30 again).  **sigh** I will miss this stress-free living once Thursday rolls around and I need to head back to school :\

Dishes, coffee, bagel... the same routine.

Kisses to Paul at 5:45...

and then, it was time to get RSC12 taken care of!!! (with the Missouri Quilt Company tutorials playing in the background).  I actually followed one of those YouTube ads to this 'station.'  Heaven knows I didn't need to really watch any of the tutorials, but... it was decent background noise.  

I kept looking at the picture of the design wall last night, and I really was becoming partial to the small diamondy alternating blocks.  BUT, I'm also a symmetrical person at heart, SO I started the day by making up two more string blocks:  light greens and light purples.

BUT, maybe you can figure out what was wrong with the plan of adding those blocks to the left end of row #2 and row #4....

I didn't even take a picture of the design wall, but.......

the plan in my head ..... well, it was broken :(  By adding those two blocks to the left end of #2 and #4, I created a big 12" gap in rows #1, 3, & 5.  

That was no good....

Ho hum, ho hum....

Well, at least I had 12 blocks now, SO, I simply put them in a 3x4 layout, and pieced 'em together!

I didn't use paper-backing for the string piecing;  rather I used some bleached muslin as the foundation. Now I understand when Bonnie mentions how heavy the tops become when using fabric as the foundation.  I clearly had to press the seams open for this entire quilt.

And then came time to play with border options.

Those lil' diamonds ended up working just about PERFECTLY as an outer border, but first, a small inner border was needed.

And dog-gone-it!  I figured I could use my design wall to "measure" out my border strips, but... that's one heavy quilt top!  And it kept falling to the floor.

Therefore, it was time to move the quilt to the floor for border treatments.

Only, there was one small problem...

My floor space was occupied with Christmas Goose.  It's been there...waiting ever so patiently for weeks.

Alright lil' quilt!  You deserved to be pieced!

Christmas Goose (72" x 91")

I'm not 100% sold yet on it being completely done.  There's something I like about having one final border to seal it all off.  But, .... then again, it's pretty cool the way it is.  What's the standard Queen size quilt measurements, anyway???

Pretty neat finish considering this is where it all began.  Men's shirts.  Thanks Bonnie!!!!!!

And before I went back to quilting work, 

I gave the basement carpet (aka: my design floor carpet) a good vacuuming.

Rainbow Diamonds (50" x 62")

Which meant I could lay out RSC14 -- Rainbow Diamonds without worry of loose strings or other debris!  

Do I like it?  You bet'cha!  I think it'll be FUN for a little girl!  Now... to find (or wait for) a recipient.

And then, Nancy jingled through Facebook Skype, and we spent an hour sewing together...

LOL -- Heya Nancy -- Guess I shoulda looked at the snapshot right away...

It took me awhile to figure out exactly what I wanted to work on.  

My design wall was empty.

I didn't want to work on any more floor layouts with Nancy piecing away in front of me.

So, pulled out my 2.5" scrap squares and organized them up a bit.

And pieced another couple of Jack in the Box blocks from the other part of my 2012 RSC.  

After seeing Andee's AMAZING completed Jack-in-the-Box top yesterday, I am newly motivated to have my other 2012 blocks see a finish!  But, I need more in order to make the quilt a desirable size.

And then, sadly, it was time for me to shut everything down in order to make dinner for the family.
Twelve hours total.  And I could STILL go for more.  Go-Go-Energizer bunny today for some reason :)

Happy Monday!

Oh, and BTW...remember I had been watching Missouri Quilt Co's YouTube station?  By the time I shut everything down, 59 tutorials had played.  And many, many, many more ideas of quilts are rambling in my head now.  Good golly!

Christmas Goose snow day

Yes, folks.  One perk about being a teacher, living in Northern Wisconsin in winter... we USUALLY get at least one snow day in any given year.  Usually, but not always.  Today... we have one.

Christmas Goose saw LOTS of progress on Sunday.  The sashing strips and cornerstone pinwheels were all pieced.  It's such a classic block quilt, but with a perfect, fun amount of scappiness involved.  All of the blocks were pieced from men's shirts;  the sashing was part shirt (the lighter outsides) and part stash (the middle dark green).  

So, speaking of shirts...

... I did some tidying of one corner of my sewing room to start out the day on Sunday.  OMGoodness!  The goodies that were stashed in plastic bags!  I had no idea.  My mother (I think!?) had picked up these shirts from garage sales or Goodwill;  I kinda recall her giving them to me last year some time.  They were in a bag, and simply tossed in the corner;  no time at the time to invest into working with them.  The smallest size:  2X!  100% cotton!

The dark navy blue one stood out!

I had been WAITING for the right blue to be added to this pile for a someday-to-be-made QOV quilt.  It's PERFECT!  

But I resisted.  I didn't need to find the perfect pattern to work with these fabrics at that moment.   All in due time.  They'll just sit together on the shelf, getting to know one another, until the time is right.

Oh.... what to do on a "free" unplanned snow day!??!?!?

So many choices....

I have a feeling part of the day will be setting up our first "real" tree that we've ever had.  

Our first "real" Christmas tree has been chosen :) 

I can't WAIT to have the real-tree smell filling up the house!!!!!!!

My own Paul Bunyan cutting down our tree :)

I will avoid double-NO people at best I can!

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Today, I want to sew!

Yesterday, 85 pounds of tomatoes were dealt with...

Today, I want to sew!

So, sifting through pictures from the past month, let's see what I have downstairs that I could work on.....

Ah yes!  I must start working on more Flying Geese units.  I have about 200 finished so far.....

 

I also need a few more 4-patches and 9-patches for Hawaiian Sunset too.

My Framed Rectangles are sitting in organized piles to be sewn into rows...

Ah.....Freeze Frame awaits quilting (but that's not going to happen today).  At least the backing and batting have already been prepared...

Jamestown Landing also awaits quilting, BUT I DO NOT have backing or batting prepped.  I suppose I could consider doing that today....

Hmmm...another top that awaits quilting (and backing and batting).  Orca Bay... 

My Christmas Goose blocks need some sashing.  Hmm....lots of Bonnie quilts down there :)

Ah yes!  BUT, I definitely MUST finish up the quilting on the two Quilts for Kids so I can get them out in the mail.  #1 priority today....

and then..... I think I'll play with some Orange/"Pumpkin" scraps for Angela's 2012 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Ohh.....lotsa goodies to choose from.  

Sewing with Bonnie - Friday night

WOW! It truly is different quilting with "someone," even if that someone (or someONES!) are across Internet waves.  Tonight... I had my own little retreat in my sewing room with Bonnie, Andee, Angela and Nancy all via my laptop.

My goals for the evening;  bind and label two QOVs that need to get mailed out SOON!  

Okay.... well, I PREPPED both bindings.  And I PREPPED the labels (the blank white fabric ironed to freezer paper in the lower left of pic).... but that's about it.

My Christmas Goose units were simply calling out my name too much.   

And now... all 20 are finished.

Not sure when I will complete the binding on the quilts because I predict MUCH of tomorrow being dedicated to the garden/harvest/preserving.

Happy FRIDAY everyone!

Design Wall - Framed Rectangles

I just went downstairs to take some pictures of my projects-in-progress.

Framed Rectangles still remains on my design wall, and I have been making progress on the "4-patch" units as leaders-enders;  grabbing a set of 4 at a time.  See the gaps?  THOSE are done and awaiting on the side table.

And then......with all the progress I've made over the past week..... my shelves and tables look kinda empty and lonely!  OMGoodness;  there must be SOMETHING to work on next!!!!!   

Ahhh......there, hiding on the floor were my Christmas Goose units.  Yup!  Those will be the next in-the-front project this morning.

Of course, I would REALLLLY love to get quilting on Jamestown Landing

or Freeze Frame....

or Orca Bay......

Or any of the other flimsies listed on my UFO page....

But Star Harbor still remains loaded on the quilting frame.  Hm....I don't think I'm in the mood to quilt right now though.....

OH!  There's also binding to make up and attach to Star Path.  Forgot about that one!

WOW!  So many projects at the "end-of-project" stages!  Hmm......maybe a NEW start is what I need!

:D

Design Wall Monday 7/23/12

My Christmas Goose is on my design wall right now (Bonnie Hunter's Goose in a Puddle).   20 total blocks needed;  I have many block units cut and ready for piecing.

However... LOADED day today.

Drop Cassie off to Vball camp (8 AM)

Come home to pick beans and raspberries

Pick up Cassie for mid-morning snack (10 AM)

Take Cassie and Caitlyn to Swim lessons at 11AM (lasts 45 minutes)

Come home for lunch

Depending on how successful this AM picking is, preserve beans and make jam from berries.

OR do some sewing

Take Candace to Swim lesson at 3:30PM

The next few days will have this same schedule ('cept the beans and raspberries only need to happen every couple of days)

I have another Midget block I'd like to make before tomorrow

I have Step #3 to finish up for QOV Mystery #28

I need to load Julie's Diamond Fields to the quilting frame now that the backing has arrived and has been washed.

Jamestown Landing still awaits in layout stage on the floor

And Christmas Goose units are taking up my sewing table space.
The Framed Rectangles in blue have taken over the Leader/Ender table since Jamestown Landing graduated.

.....

so much to choose from :)

But I don't wanna stop!

Whahoo!  What a great day :)

Even with a meeting this morning at school, and then a trip to the quilt shop, I was still able to get a good amount of sewing done!  Kind of a gloomy day, so no gardening done today.  

To start off this morning....Melissa Corry posted the first week's pieces for the Tetris quilt along.  Intriguing for sure!  While waiting for the girls to finish breakfast, I printed a blank grid and "played" with this week's pieces.  Check out the links on my sidebar if you're interested in playing along.  We just started :)  Melissa and many others are making the blocks with 5" nickels ... I'm just tinkering around with 1.5" squares.

I really have no clue what I'll exactly do with my blocks, but for now, I'm just enjoying playing along and remembering the AWESOME game from years ago!

And because Cassie enjoys the game so much too----SHE'S PLAYING ALONG!  Using these small pieces will really help her learn and practice meeting up seams. 

It's fun seeing all the different blocks created based on how you strategize in the game!  Cassie and I put the orange block unit in the same spot :)  The blue one is also in the same spot----but after that, NOTHING else was played the same.

While she was playing around with other fabric, I was back to work cutting up more shirts to work on the Christmas Goose blocks (Bonnie's Goose in a Puddle pattern).

 More units await....

{{and notice the Framed Rectangle units pushed to the side.  Darn that Startitis!}}  >:|

Design Wall Monday

The 8 Block "A" Framed Rectangle blocks are on my design wall.  I would LOVE LOVE to spend some time today on the 10 Block "B" or the 72 Block "C" units.

But I have to tidy up these shirts, which will probably lead to cutting and organizing...

for my Christmas Goose quilt-in-the-making :)

BUT FIRST!!!!!!.....

The kids need to be dropped off at summer school

and then I need to get in the garden to pick beans

which will probably lead to weeding/watering/pruning other things

and then I'll have to prep the beans for canning

and then I'll have to can them....

... so we'll see when/if I'll get some sewing in today

Side-tracked by shirts [update]

Everyone has departed the Skatt-Ranch.  Brother and family have already made it safely home;  my sister and parents started back much later than him, so they are still on the road;  my sister will be arriving home around 10:00 :(  {{She's also a teacher, so she's okay with such a late arrival}}

At one point this morning, I couldn't help but chuckle.  I swear this photo is NOT staged!  There are 5 laptops, 2 kindles, 1 iPad and a couple of cell-phones in this picture alone.  {{There was one more laptop, one more kindle and loads of cell-phones NOT pictured here}}.  I just found it kinda "new-age" that just about everyone started their day "logging in" to some place or another on the net.  

And you can still see the remnants of our Sun-n-Fun outing yesterday draped over the railing pictured outside the windows.  

With everyone still at the house (and AWAKE), I didn't want to be anti-social and hide downstairs in the sewing room.  For whatever reason, I had a sudden inspirational idea to get my bag of shirts (that have been sitting for 2 years!) and cut them apart {{Does this count for hand-work Kathy?}}.  With scissors in hand, that's exactly what I did in the glider while the rest of the family lounged and relaxed (and snoozed) the morning away.  Very relaxing.

And now, with these shirts..... I'm off to relax myself with one of Bonnie's books to find a project for them.  They all blend quite nicely together (except maybe that blue/white in the lower left).  Reds, green, and whites mostly.  Hmm.....sounds like Christmas to me!  It IS still July......

Okay, off to be inspired!  

{{Ooo.....Kathy's "startitis" is spreading!  I was afraid of that!}}

UPDATE:  And the winner....... "Goose in the Puddle".... with the potential name-twist: "Christmas Goose."