The Quilting Fairy visited....

That's all I can say! She MUST have visited during the night and sprinkled me with Quilting Dust because NOTHING else can explain the sewing/quilting frenzy I've had this weekend!

I didn't even get downstairs until 11:00 this morning, because once Cassie woke up and I folded a few more loads of clothes, we decided to run into town to grab some donuts and return the movies before the "day really began." *hmpf!* :0)

Anyway, the first project I tackled was to baste and start quilting Isaac's Blue Heaven. The Packer game (Green Bay Packers) started at noon, so I turned the radio on and quilted the game away. By the time our punter missed the game winning fieldgoal, I was putting the finishing touches on it and did the "cheat binding" method again. The quilting was a simple meander in all the white areas.



Then, after a late lunch (DH drove into the yard as the game was ending), I headed back downstairs, and BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I decided to work on Derek's Storm at Sea. One sewing minute lead to another......and the rows were together within 30 minutes! Gosh, that thing has been a monkey on my back! Then.......holy buckets, after a little contemplating, a small red border was added to the sides. Then..........hmmmmmmmmmm......then I sat at looked, and looked, and debated. I still had almost a yard of the blue Nautical fabric yet, and I knew it would just sit to collect dust if I didn't use most of it up. So......the original "lap quilt" ended up being rather large. I needed to do a little visual measuring to match up the lines of the nautical objects since the border needed to be pieced. All-in-all, I have about 4 inches of the fabric left----and what's more!!!! THE TOP IS DONE! WOW!!!!! It is pictured on a King size bed, so.........its a wee bit larger than I originally intended! *grin*

I decided to shoot a pic of the OTR at the same time since I hadn't yet. This is almost done---still working on hand-sewing the binding down. This is going to be gifted to my brother for Christmas.




Masha's Wonky Nines was finished up yesterday. This quilting was quite fun to do, although it was difficult (as always) to "fight" the bulk in the sewing machine. There are puckers on the back, but overall, I like the flowery meander.

So, a dent was finally made in the C'mas project list.

• Isaac-DONE.
  
• Masha-DONE.
  
• Ron(brother)-BINDING.
  
• Derek-TOP DONE.
  
• Jan (BLOCKS MADE) that's right---I still need to get those out and snap a pic.
  
• Andre (NEXT to be quilted)
  
• Scot? Hmm......I suppose I can still set him as a goal by C'mas.
  

Finally, taking a moment AWAY from quilting.....I almost forgot to have Cass open up her birthday present from my sister so she could wear her new jacket. I had to call my sis to find out which box it was in since there are four of them sitting in the entry way. Cass's bday isn't until the 28th, but winter weather temperatures have been with us for awhile.


Okay-----I suppose. I wrote my three assessments for tomorrow: Pre-Calc HW Quiz; Math 8 Pre-test; Algebra 8 Pre-test. Everything else can wait....

Happy New Week!


o

FUN, FUN scrappy progress today!!!

I knew it had been a while since I blogged, but I really thought I tuned in at least ONCE this week...
sorry-----

I managed to finish up Isaac's Blue Heaven this week. The blocks went together VERY quickly, finishing at 12"x12" each. I slapped on some borders to wrap it up (I THINK that was Thursday night), measuring 3.5" wide finished. So, if you do the math, that makes this quilt right around 55"x67". This is going to be gifted to a Jan's son, Isaac. Isaac was adopted when he was a baby and is the same age as Cassie--2nd grader.

So now, ALL three quilts to go to Jan's children are finished....(well, the TOPS are finished)

We had Masha's Wonky Nines (completed at the end of August, 2008). Masha is in 5th grade right now; she is one of Jan's adopted Russian children. She currently is competing in gymnastics at the local club and being "promoted" to the next level after just about every meet.




We had Andre's Out of this World (completed October, 2008). Andre is in 6th grade and is also one of Jan's adopted Russian children. He is a soccer fanatic; basically a born athlete in almost every sport. Both Andre and Masha were from the same orphanage in Russia; they became Jan's children three years ago. :0) Wow---does Jan have some stories to share!!!!





So FINALLY, I can begin on Jan's quilt! Quite a while ago, I was browsing through some old (1990's) quilt magazines and saw this BEAUTIFUL "jewel" scrap quilt. I had it marked, knowing I was going to make it SOME DAY. I recently pulled that stack of magazines out again, seeing the jewel pattern, and I KNEW it was going to be perfect for Jan.

Jan is going through some very difficult family times right now, and she flat-out adores her children. (I know that's a dumb comment, because what parent DOESN'T love their children??!?!?!) psht----I'm a teacher; and I see some very sad "families" because the children come second to the parent's wishes.

Anyway, when I saw the pattern, the wheels started playing in my mind and I decided that I would use all the scraps from the kids' quilts to make hers. This morning at 10:00, I started cutting away and power-sewing strips and half-triangles. I now know what Bonnie meant when I read her words----they said something similar to .... "I love scrap quilts; seeing all the different styles and designs of fabric being placed in the sewing machine." Although all the kids' quilts are somewhat scrappy in their own, Andre's and Isaac's still got to a "boring" stage of sewing because of the redundant colors. Side note: Hmmm.......maybe that's why Derek's Storm at Sea is STILL waiting to be completed-----ugh

Anyway---Jan's Family Gems was begun today, and I have LOVED every second of seeing the blocks come together. I would end one stage (creating some 4-patches) and would need to go on to the next stage (creating HST's) and then needed to go to the next stage (sewing together) because I was just DYING to see part of the finished product. After taking this picture of the first 10 blocks, I deliberated about the final size of this quilt. Minimum: 4x6 layout (that would be 48"x72" before any borders), but I probably will use a 5x6 layout (60"x72" before borders). So, 5x6 means 30 blocks. I have 10 completed, so I'm 1/3 of the way there :0)

In fact, I was somewhat of a "bad mommy" at lunch time because I didn't want to stop. It's a good thing that Cassie is getting older and knows who to work a microwave :0) She made hotdogs for the other two and herself; and they all also helped themselves to a bowl of cereal. I hope you all can understand and not call the "bad mommy police" on me. DH has been cashed out in the bed for most of the day -- I TOLD him to. Yup---yup---I did! I told him to just take the DAY OFF and kick back. 15 minutes later, he was zonked (that was at 11:15). He JUST crawled out of the room and is having a snack next to me right now.

I'd love to head back downstairs right now to whip out some more blocks. HOWEVER, I'm off to shower. DH and I are going to have "somewhat" of a night out. We all (DH, myself and girls) went to the girl's Regional Semi-final volleyball game last night and our girls won. Prior to last night's game, DH hadn't had intentions of going to tonight's Regional Final, BUT he's a lover of volleyball and last night's game WAS exciting!!! He was "itching" to see the Final's, so I told him I would line up a babysitter. So, we're going to go the game---just the two of us---(well, sorta!) I called up Jan and told her our girls won, so she's going to head up to the Final's too. Jan and I coached volleyball together for seven years which is where we really built the awesome relationship we have! She was my mentor; and BOY, I respect her immensely!

Alrighty folks----have a wonderful night/evening/day.
Happy Saturday

"Out of this World" done---onto the next one...

Finishing up Andre's quilt came to be quite easy. It was a fun, controlled BRIGHT scrappy quilt---twin size. The top will be added to my brother's OTR and Masha's Wonky Nines pile, awaiting when I need to get into a "quiltying frenzy" to finish all of them up. I finished up Andre's early in the evening (well, if 8:30 is considered early----it is when you don't begin until 8:00). And OF COURSE, Derek's Storm at Sea is FOREVER calling at me from its location on the carpet---still awaiting to have all the rows sewn together. *shudder* There is just SOMETHING about it that has become a nagging child pulling on my pants leg and I keep putting it off until I "feel like working on it." I KNOW that time WILL come----I will be patient.

So, I figured I'd take a little time to piece together some of my leader-ender square-strips that had been collecting and growing in the basket on my table. I was AMAZED to see I already had enough to complete 6 entire 6x6 blocks for my Scrappy Irish Chain. Slowly but surely I think this baby will get completed so it can be donated to my mother's church for Christmas.


Finally, since those blocks didn't take too long to piece, I figured I might as well jump right in to the next quilt on my C'mas list. I'd been searching and searching for the "right" pattern, and I STILL don't know if it's the right one, but....it'll have to do! Isaac's My Blue Heaven was begun tonight, having completed 3 (of 20) blocks. These blocks go together rather quickly, and the quilt will too since these babies are 12 inches!!! I have been setting aside my blues, knowing I was going to use them for Isaac, and I was finally able to find a PERFECT opportunity to use up the basketball and baseball "starry" remnants I had from making Zach's quilt last C'mas.

However, alas, it tis time to hit the hay.
*chuckle*...nothing like using Shakespearien terms along with some slang redneck terms :0)

Happy Friday (ALMOST!)