10 hours in my sewing room - Easy Street and others

6:30 AM, and I was strolling into my quilting room.  I brought NO schoolwork home this weekend seeing that we teachers have 2 days worth of inservice on Monday & Tuesday while the kiddos have the entire week off.  Therefore, I'll plan to get some of my planning done during a couple of hours of worktime on Tuesday afternoon.

Therefore, I could FINALLY devote my undivided attention to my sewing room!  {{almost}}  From time to time, I did need to provide some meals on the table for Candace and Caitlyn.

My main project today:  Lazy Sunday.  Last weekend, I had left off piecing the sashing to the 2nd row before my bobbin thread ran out.  Hence, I wound 6 bobbins worth to start off the day, and then got to work.

I haven't done a "time-lapse" post in quite some time;  it's kind of a neat way to keep track of how fast/slow certain parts of quilting are.

A few hours into the morning, the center of Lazy Sunday was pieced.  I had also been piecing the border units as my leaders-enders, so I was making some good progress.

And then........

I forgot to continue with the time-lapse pictures!!! Whoops....

I simply was in a mode, and it was go-go-go;  and in the background, I was catching up on Bonnie's quiltcams from the past couple of months.

By mid-afternoon:  Lazy Sunday pieced!  77"x97".

Can I get an....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  ?

LOL

All the while, I was organizing up the leader-ender section;  failed to take a picture of that though.  "Omigosh" continues to be my main leader-ender project.  Perhaps in 4 years, at this pace, it may actually be completed SOLELY as leader-ender :)

THEN, I wanted to truly have an idea of how many quilt-tops I had hanging around, waiting OH WAITING to eventually be loaded into the quilting frame for some fancy-schmancy quilting.

The newest flimsy from last weekend:  Confetti (48"x48)

Bonnie's 2012-13 mystery:  Easy Street (85"x85")

Bonnie's Jamestown Landing (84"x96")

Bonnie's Smith Mountain Morning (72"x82")

RWB Heartstrings, but after seeing it in pictures.....nopers.  It's not ready for quilting!  I foresee 18 more RWB string blocks for placement on the left-and-right sides.  This layout.....eh.  It doesn't work.  It's unfinished!

Rainbow Scrap (from 2011? I think) (42"x56")

2010 BOM - 18 block RWB (58.5"x72")

HMMM......Alycia, if you happen to catch this post, let me know if you (or anyone you know) would be willing to take the top as-is and get it quilted up as a QOV ???  I'd rather get this into the arms of a recipient sooner-than-later; and at this rate..... in my basement.... it would be MUCH "later" than sooner.

Frost 25 (73"x73")

Freeze Frame (69"x86")

And not to mention a flannel snuggler quilt that was packed away in a different bin.  And I'm sure I have another one around the basement ... somewhere!  So, with ALL of these 100% ready for backings to be pieced or loaded directly into the frame....

I figured I simply needed to put some time on Wafer Cookies!  Which I did.  For a little while.

and then.....

The afternoon sloggies took hold.  And I was ready to be done.

I had a slightly restless night, playing "mommy" to Caitlyn.  She wasn't feeling well at school yesterday, and ALMOST lasted the whole day.  But, at 1:50, the elementary secretary walked her down to my classroom.  Even a "mom-hug" wasn't enough.  So, with some amazing coworkers helping out, I was on the way out the door of the school with Caitlyn next to me by 2:15.  And by 2:50... **sigh** ...  she officially proved to me that she was indeed sick.

By 10:00, THANKFULLY, she dozed off to sleep on the couch.  

Her sister, on the other hand; WIDE AWAKE watching Doc McStuffins.

Therefore, I figured I'd try to pass the time with some crochet.  The Hallmark channel has been the background noise of choice most evenings, and last night wasn't any different (until I allowed Candace to watch some Disney) :)

These blocks, along with probably one more, will be sewn together to make a simple lil' Christmas table runner for our piano.

There ya go, folks.  The list of flimsies is a bit..... overwhelming!  BUT, at least my sewing tables are clean and tidied.  My leader-ender section is freshly organized.  My "big" WIPs have reached an acceptable stage for folding or stashing on a shelf.

I'm READY for Friday's Clue #1.

OH WAIT!  

Crud!  

LOL

No I'm not!!!  

I completely forgot to pull fabrics.

:}

Oh well...tomorrow is another day.  I don't think I have enough energy left in me to spend any more time in the sewing room tonight.  Instead, I'll grab my crochet hook for the evening.

Happy Saturday!

Tidying loose ends -- Confetti, RWB Pineapple Blossoms, and Lazy Sunday

Today was the first substantial time spent in my sewing room in QUITE some time -- July, maybe?  Recall, my month of August was filled with my new obsession of crochet;  and then, of course, school started in September.

I dare say this is my first COMPLETE weekend home since school began.  Both days!  And I can stay in my PJs!!!!  And despite needing to tackle piles and piles of laundry, today... I still sewed!

Bonnie's Celtic Solstice mystery is drawing closer;  less then 2 weeks.  I will ALWAYS take part in a Bonnie mystery;  they simply are be-YOND amazing designs!

Therefore, I wanted to just clear my head and organize the umpteen projects in various stages in order to be ready for the mystery.

The crib quilt for a friend didn't take much effort to get to flimsy stage.  There is no longer a rush on the quilt, but I'd still like to get it to a finished state sooner than later.  

Pattern:  Confetti, Quiltmaker March/April 2010.

Super quick and easy!

Next was to take care of the stacks of pieces/units for the RWB Pineapple Blossom quilt that was started (and left) back in June.    At the same time, I had some Leaders-Enders in the works for the Lazy Sunday border units.

It took longer than expected to finish up all 40 pineapple blocks; probably because I double-sewed, pieced and trimmed up the bonus triangles into 40 bonus pinwheel blocks to be utilized in the border.
Those have now been set aside for some day in the future.  My layout will be the same as my last Pineapple Blossom quilt.

My full attention then moved onto piecing Lazy Sunday blocks with sashing, all the while, continuing with the border units as my leader-enders.

I was midway through the second row when my bobbin thread ran out, nor did I have any more bobbins prepped.  Therefore, I took that as a sign to call it a day.  Seven hours is still WAY more than I've sewed in months.

Now... I'll relax with my feet up with my crochet hook in-hand to work on Cassie's Laker Ripple afghan.

Happy Saturday.  Truly.

Oh that Bonnie; Friends; and SCHOOL SPIRIT.

AGAIN!  The classic moment of "trying to fit it all in!!!!"

The lastest news happened Thursday night!  Our volleyball team is advancing to the Regional Finals after a SUPER CAH-RAZY GYM-EXPLODING match against a number 2 seeded team (we were seeded 7th).  As a former coach of STILL some of these girls, we were simply mis-seeded.  Sadly, it happens every year.  BUT... it is what it is.  Thursday night was an AMAZING night of volleyball between two very equally matched teams.  IN-TENSE action!  The match went all the way to the final 5th game.... with a final score of 15-10.  The evening was DEFINITELY worth the cost of the ticket.  AND the gas!  LOL.  The town was 2 hours 45 minutes away----so thankfully, not having school on Friday (students) was perfect timing in order to send as many fans over to the game as possible.  I still had Teacher Inservice meetings yesterday, but it was tolerable; even with little sleep.

Upon leaving for the Thursday night match, some big ol' crocodile tears were rolling down Candace's cheek.  "It's NOT FAIR, Mom!  Why can Cassie go but not us???"

Yes, yes....Cassie travelled the distance with me, but not Candace and Caitlyn.  Oh dear.  The world came to an end.  LOL.  Yet, whenever those two are with me at local games, the lovely words, "Mom, I'm bored" pop out all too soon.  And too frequent.  LOL.  So, they weren't given a choice.

But I'm a sucker.

SO, .....

"Alright Candace.  I'll take you guys to Skate City tomorrow night (Friday night).  And you can invite a friend along."

Candace, my lovely lovely child, knows me allll too well.  She knows that sometimes...I don't always follow through, even though I have excellent intentions of doing so.

So....

she brought out...... the PINKY!

"Pinky promise, Mom?!"

So, Skate City last night happened, with a Pizza Hut trip ahead of time to boot!  And friend.

Caitlyn's friend, sadly, could not make the evening festivities.  Instead, we set up a short play date for the two of them TODAY, 10-2.  

Which brings me to the current moment.

I've been working on some new motifs for the Kaleidoscope afghan when time allows.

My first priority, this morning at 5:30AM (after a cup of coffee), was to make up a couple of blue-n-gold scarves for the game tonight!  

And, OF COURSE, the other latest news:  BONNIE'S NEW MYSTERY!!!!!

Q: "So, Amy.  Are you doing Bonnie's newest mystery?"

Bah!  What a foolish, foolish question!

A true Bonnie fan would NEVER....E-VAH... miss out on a Bonnie mystery!

Therefore, in order to prepare a BIT for the mystery coming out in November, I suppose I needed to spend a little time tidying up my sewing room AND try to (at least) turn her last mystery (via Quiltmaker magazine) into a flimsy with the few hours I have today!!!!

I pulled out the units around 10:00 and displayed them on the floor.

Then I spent an hour cutting up the last of the required units for the sashing.

But that's it for now.  LOTS and LOTS to do in the next couple of hours before needing to hit the road for the Volleyball match tonight.   And, yet again, the match is over 2 1/2 hours away!!! 

BUT, thankfully, the Farm is within an hour's drive of the competiton's school, so the girls and I will be heading out a bit earlier to visit a bit, then head to the game.

HAPPPPPPY Saturday everyone.

Feeling lazy

I feel lazy; I know I've done a good share of tasks over the past 24 hours....but I just feel lazy.  I think it's because I never got around to actually quilting up Wafer Cookies yesterday, nor do I feel like standing behind a quilt machine right now for some quilting.  I feel like sitting.  With my feet up.

Candace, my model

I finished up the double-knit scarf yesterday morning using Caitlyn's Knitting Loom.  I didn't really keep track, but I would have to estimate I spent 10-15 hours total on it and used two ... ummm.... "things" .... of yarn.  Not being a yarn user, I don't know the actual name of a "package" of yarn.....

Google to the rescue.....

A SKEIN of yarn.  Well....there ya have it.  I used two SKEINs of yarn;  a dark brown and a dark blue/navy/purple/brown mix.  I can see doing another project.  It's kinda fun doing something new (and easy!)

Lazy Sunday, Part 3 was also ALMOST finished up!  All purple bricks and white squares cut;  all 156 "diagonals" sewn (and double-sewn for bonus HSTs), and SOME of them cut and pressed.

The bonus HSTs were even pressed as I went along.   The part is ALMOST finished;  another good hour of cutting apart the double-sewn seams and pressing should do it.

Ummmm, I'm trying to remember how I got sidetracked away from my sewing room yesterday......

....

.......

Gosh!  I'm getting old!

I don't remember how, but SOMEHOW, I got sidetracked... and ended up outside on the lawn mower.  

LOL

I spent a couple of hours mowing and "raking" with the yard sweeper behind the mower.  

Which then lead me to weeding Paul's newly planted berry bushes....

Then lead to mulching the bushes and the 'rescued' tomato plants.

Then lead to hoeing 45 hills of the white potato patch

Then lead to

OH!!!!!! I REMEMBER NOW!  I hauled up some jars of green beans for lunch yesterday;  we had three jars left from the 2011 batch (buried behind the 2012 jars).  I warmed them up in the microwave.......ehhhhh.  They didn't taste that great (it may just have been in my mind) .  SO, I  dumped them into a bucket, along with some overly ripe grapes, and took them out the pigs after lunch. 

Which then lead to emptying the compost bucket...... which then lead to the lawn mower!  LOL

 So, when all the outside work was said and done, it was 8PM and time to relax.  

There was NO quilting on Wafer Cookies like I had hoped, but.... that's okay.

I grabbed up the Knitting Knobby again while watching some marathon episodes of Snapped.  Until MIDNIGHT!!!!  Good golly!  That cup of coffee at 8PM probably wasn't the best idea.

But I made some progress.  All of the outer rings (the speckly brown/tan yarn) were knitted (icorded) last night.

The rug looks a little bigger when Candace's feet are on it, though :)

Some of you were asking about the Knitting Knobby.  I use a very simple, plastic yellow one;  I think it was from my mom to one/all of the girls;  and I snagged it up since it wasn't getting used.  

A google search lead me to a picture of one that is what I used as a kid;  I had the "mushroom" headed one;  it always reminded me of the Smurfs' houses!

My google search also shared other names used for this tool:  Toy Knitter and Spool Knitter.

Regardless of what name is used;  it's an EASY way to introduce a child to a crafty project.  

And today so far.....

it's been another morning of good sewing ambitions, but filled with garden distractions instead;  and a 2 hour detour to the local strawberry patch to pick 2 buckets of berries.  Our timing was perfect too;  Cassie was almost finished with her assigned rows as we were finishing our picking.  

And now....

I feel like being lazy! :)

Caitlyn took a crochet class during her first Summer School session, and she wanted to desperately show me how to crochet.  Since Kathy posted her progress on her crochet rug for yesterday's Slow-Stitch Sunday, I thought a refresher on crocheting would be a good way to spend some downtime after lunch.  So, with Youtube in the background, and Caitlyn next to me, we both grabbed a crochet hook, some yarn... and crocheted away.

This is mine.  Practicing an oval shape to get ready for a new rug (see a post on a former rug).  Caitlyn crocheted a massively long chain-stitch.  The right side of this lil project turned out good....but not so sure what happened on the left.  I think I lost count of my stitches right off the bat in my 2nd round, and I haven't quite been able to "fill it in" yet.  

BUT.  With this refresher, I think I'm ready to grab some fabrics and give my go at a rag rug again :)

Have I said I'm feeling lazy!??!

Lazy Sunday and Slow Stitch Sunday

Ultimately, I have three goals for today.

1) Finish the scarf I started two days ago on Caitlyn's Knitting Loom.  This will be my Slow-Stitch Sunday project for Kathy's site;  it's been ages since I worked on a slow-stitch project.

2)  Finish Clue #3 of Bonnie Hunter's Lazy Sunday mystery via Quiltmaker magazine.    The blocks were finished a few weeks ago, but the purple "diagonal" units have to be cut and sewn yet.

3)  Finish the quilting on Wafer Cookies, and maybe even sew on the binding.

It's a beautiful morning outside right now;  sunny and 60s.  It's supposed to warm up nicely to low 80s.  I may have to fight off some puppydog eyes who might be asking to head to the beach.  LOL.  We'll see what the day has in store.

Full Speed Ahead :D Ahhhhh.......

5AM alarm goes off for my husband.  Of COURSE, I was waking up with him on this, my first day of SUMMER VACATION!!!!!

{{Okay, I promise this will be the LAST time I do any 'rubbin' in' of summer vacation!!  I'm just exhausted from the school year, and soooooo ready to start recharging the batteries with this break.}}

Last weekend (?), I started doing some cutting for Bonnie's Quiltmaker Lazy Sunday Mystery - Part 3 once it arrived in the mail.  First thing this morning was to piece together the 24 blocks asked for in this step.

I am actually at a small stand-still right now though until I schedule in some time for a small shopping spree.  I am OUT of usable purples!  I even searched high-n-low in the boxes of scrappy stash from various garage sales and donations;  not a single piece of usable purples!

No worries.  It'll be two more months before the next step hit my mailbox anyway :)

Then I moved on to finish up the borders on my 2010 BOM top that has been taking up my carpeted floor space downstairs for the past month.  It has officially reached flimsy status! (59" x 72").  

The main reason I pushed to finish up the flimsy was because I needed the floor space!

My mother called me yesterday with news that she has been asked to be a witness for a wedding at the end of the month.  In addition to requesting my help with dress shopping, she also put a request out for a wedding gift.  

"So, in your stash of quilts, would you happen to have a quilt that would be fitting for a wedding gift?" 

I'm SURE I did!

After some blog perusing to look at my selection of finished quilts and flimsies, I was actually a bit worried, though!  I wasn't really seeing anything fitting.

And then, for whatever reason, I thought of Forever, which I had forgotten to add to my list of flimsies!  

So?  Mom?  What do you think?  It's 70x80.  Give me a call with your thoughts :)

Although this is the first day of summer vacation for all of us, the weather is NOT cooperating!  We were not able to put in much of our garden this past weekend due to the wet weather;  we are hopelessly behind schedule with our crops up here in northern Wisconsin!  In fact, the news broadcast last night stated that if farmers didn't get their corn crops in by June 9th, they might as well not bother (not sure which organization had made that comment).

However, the cool (non-existent) Spring hasn't delayed the start of summer softball.

The other night, Caitlyn joined in with the wearing of the Blue-n-Gold with her first ever softball game!  She was super excited, despite being almost eaten alive by the mammoth-sized mosquitoes that HAD to have hatched over the past couple of days!  

And on my activity front.... **sigh**....

I've continually pushed ahead with my running despite the lingering annoyance of my left knee.  Today, however, I'm reallllllly starting to accept the inevitable that I may need to schedule an appointment to get it checked out.  I ran 3 miles last night on the treadmill and even iced it afterwards.  This morning, though, it is NOT happy with my "run through the pain" attitude.  

I don't like injuries that hinder any form of activity :(

SO, with poopy weather outside and a knee that is limiting my activity, I guess quilting is a GREAT way to spend this first day of vacation.

Happy Wednesday!

Lazy Sunday; 2010 BOM UFO; Mother's Day running

Two hours of sewing time this morning was all that was needed to piece together the 24 blocks for Bonnie's Lazy Sunday Quiltmaker mystery; Part 2.  I love that I'm all caught up AND that I'm feeling the quilting mojo returning :)

With deadlines done;  Lazy Sunday all caught up;  and having been so long since I was in any kind of "flow" in the sewing room, I elected to tidy, clean, organize, purge...

...and then I came across a buried stack of 2010 Mystery BOM blocks.

After laying them out and coming up with a sashing idea, I was off and running.

Sashed AND the first of three borders attached.    The next little 1.5" white border is prepped, and I'm planning for a final blue border (maybe 4.5" ??).  With summer looming, I realllllly want to set a goal of quilting all of these flimsies I have laying around all over the place!

By 1:30, I turned everything off and started to mentally talk myself into getting prepared for my 9 mile run today.  It was WINDY out, and I wasn't looking forward to it;  in fact, I was putting it off for as long as I could, HOPING the wind would die down :\  No such luck.

BUT, with a nice-n-easy pace in mind, the 1.5 mile windy stretches were tolerable, KNOWING I would have a 1.5 mile tail-wind as soon as I hit the turn-around.  I ran my 3-mile "Brooke Drive" loop again (x3 today);  it's a great training loop AND keeps me close to home.  I also set up a "water stop" at the loop turn-around, so I know that I'll have a water break every 3-miles.  It works out nicely :)

And my lovely lovely Candace had a Mother's Day snack surprise waiting for me when I got home :)

A Fruit-Veggie flower!  LOL.  Ranch dip at the ends of each carrot;  peanut butter in the center of the apple-slices flower, and a banana stem.  

Cassie brought home her first hardware of the track season last Friday night.  She's been working on her 400 meter run, and Friday she was scheduled to run three separate 400 meter runs.  One of them, a 1600M medley relay (200-200-400-800), she ran the 3rd leg, and ended up helping her relay take a Gold :)  I think she slept with the medal Friday night :)

Y'all know the song..."Back to Life....Back to reality..."

Yup.  Starting to sing that right now.

Happy Sunday.

I thought I was done...

After another couple of hours in the sewing room this evening, piecing and pressing the units for the Lazy Sunday mystery - part 2... I THOUGHT I was finished after pressing the final HST pink unit.

But NOPE!  While organizing all the units for a "was-to-be-FINAL-picture"... I glanced at the magazine and saw the pieced BLOCK.  Ahhhh... 

.... Now I know what I can work on tomorrow :)

Of course, that'll be AFTER I clock 10 miles on my feet.  

Tomorrow will be the last 'big' mileage I'll run before next week's marathon.  

I'm ready.

Bring it on :)