Early morning rising..

Morning everyone!
I absolutely COULD NOT sleep anymore---4:48 and the bell tolled for me.
So, showered, laundered two loads, muffins in the oven, and taking a few moments to update my blog..
I don't know how much I'll get in before the rest of the house wakes up....25 more minutes...we'll see how fast my fingers can type :0)

To start, the weekend was beautiful for my Dad's retirement party! And viola.....

Stars-n-Stripes revealed!
Here's the simple poem I put together for the reveal....





On the wall or on your lap
The choice is up to you
Let this be just a simple token
For all the things you do

Cut up from some old PJ’s
Piecing this took a while
But this snuggly quilt goes to show you
Old things can still have style

You’ve put in your time, retirement is here
Your work is finally complete,
Kick back, relax and snuggle up,
Enjoy and fall fast asleep.

I also feel I needed to share this gift!!! They are "Redneck Chimes." The gentelman on the right is my Uncle, who also retired---it was a Duo-Retirement Party :0) So, after a lot of fun and sun, we headed back home late Saturday night.

Sunday was another absolutely BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!! I had intentions of being inside, quilting all day. Hmpf! By 9:00, I was the first out the door! After a run to the gas station, and $75 less in the wallet, I was off-n-mowing for the first time this year! Yeah, the grass was long, but we actually don't mind. It's easier to rake up and pile up as inexpensive "horse food." They LOVE freshly mowed grass!
We were rolling right along, so I made a super quick "picnic lunch" of Peanut-butter sandwiches and Cheese Puffs. And, of course, when there's a little bit of wind, there's bound to be some accidents. Directly when I snapped this picture, Caitlyn (back left) spilled her lemonade. Oh, the DRAMA :0) But the rest of the lunch went off without a hitch.
The rest of day consisted of more raking, picking up the yard, and cleaning Mom's car!!! I did a "super cleaning job" on the inside, while Paul and the girls washed the outside. WOW! It's amazing what driving in a clean car can do for you! I felt so GOOD driving to school yesterday morning!

And, yeah...speaking of school! FOUR MORE DAYS! Wooo-hooooo. Today will be so fun! It's the Junior High "Skate City" reward day. The four main teachers (myself, English, Science, and Social Studies) get to be chaperones, and it'll be a blast!
Then, Finals in all my classes tomorrow, and a "wrap-up" movie on Thursday and Friday. The end is near!!!!


Happy Day everyone!

Stars-n-Stripes top done

The title says it all! WOW! I can't believe I actually found some time again to get downstairs for MORE than just a few minutes. The top is laying out on the floor, with hopes of being sandwiched on Thursday, to begin the quilting process. Now....just to come up with the quilt design again..... I'm thinking simple meander IF my machine's tension doesn't drive me BONKERS again!

Short -n- Sweet tonight folks! Happy sewing!

The afternoon update...

The day isn't over yet, but I'm taking a break. I needed to come up at 3:00 to cut up some potatoes and carrots to throw in with the Roast I'm "cooking" in the slow-cooker. So, now, I'm sitting back and watching a VeggieTales movie with the girls and checking in with the latest.

More putzy pieces....blah, blah, blah! And more ironing of all those putzy pieces....blah, blah, blah! But......





...the end is in sight! All the pieces are complete, and I've already pieced four rows together before taking my break. And I must say once more....PUTZY! So many stinkin' pieces!!


Also, while needing some more 1.5" Light squares for my Leaders/Enders (I've been simply sewing 1.5" light and dark squares together), a lightbulb occurred to me! I pulled out the scrappy basket block that Bonnie had on her site earlier this week, and I figured....GOLLY....I could whip out these blocks in no time using them as my Leaders and Enders. So, at this point, I have enough pieces ready to put three whole blocks together already. Amazing!


Also, you may be wondering...."Ummm...Amy, I thought you were planting your garden today."

Yeah, well....Paul and I talked this morning, looking at the thermometer, and decided to wait at least one more week. But Paul did get out on the tractor to till up the garden. For Amanda, Yes! We have a large garden. That's the joy of having 10 acres of previously owned farm-land.

We have about an acre used for the horses, which we got two years ago. I don't know exactly what breed they are, but I would almost consider them welsh-ponies. They are "ponies" but BIG ponies! Candace and I took some time this morning to give them some goodies, so a Photo-op was born :0)



And since we weren't going to planting the garden, Paul decided is was a good time to start making a chicken coop. And, of course, my response was ...." A WHAT???" He chuckled, and said...."Oh yes dear, I forgot to tell you, I'm getting some chickens later today from a buddy...."

OH DEAR!!! I'll keep you all posted on THAT endeavor!


Anyway, I'll probably get back downstairs later tonight once the girls are in bed, but I'm going to take a break until then. Besides, I need to put together our school's Tech Plan Website. So I'm off to work on that now.

Progress on OC and Stars-n-Stripes

I've had a full day.....
and believe it or not, it started at 5:55 am (sorta). #2 (Caitlyn) came marching down the stairs. You have GOT to be kidding me! We usually have to drag her out of bed at 6:30 during the week.....*sigh*
So, breakfast was made a little early...
We went grocery shopping at 8:00am, back at 9:15, unpacked by 9:45 (yeah.....LOTS of groceries!). Then DH had to head to Rice Lake (town about 30 minutes away) to get a few specialty items (oil for tractor so we can till the garden up and plant it tomorrow; and my contacts came in at the Shopko optical.
So, while he was gone, I actually CLEANED!!!!! But I limited myself to an hour so that I could get some quitling done. So, my bathroom is clean, all the dished were washed up, and a couple loads of laundry got done.
(not that this has anything to do with this blog, but when I was out looking for a "cleaning toilet" image, I came across this graphic. I giggled, so I thought I'd share it here too.....)




By 11:00, I headed down to the basement to start OC#4. I pulled out my colors that have been set aside for a month. The dark brown/black and the light brown/gray colors are my two colors for this part. However....I wasn't "feeling" those drab colors today....Nope, Nope, Nope.

So.....I gawked, peered, dug, and sifted through the stash.....

Ta-da! The green you see pictured is what I "felt!" I was able to cut all the triangles and get all of the green/black squares pieced before DH returned. But then, I had to play "mom" for a bit because Cassie was invited to a bowling-birthday party today at 1:00. DH husband actually took her and hung out with the birthday girl's dad while I stayed home with the younger two. I plopped a movie in the Portable DVD player downstairs, so I was actually able to continue sewing. Yeah! I finished up 10 of the 30 blocks and laid them out before deciding to put it aside around 3:00. I'll tell ya this though----I have a feeling this is going to be a larger quilt than CC. Those 9 blocks pictured take up a good size! 9.5" blocks......

It was time to get back to Grandpa's Stars and Stripes. After cutting up yet MORE 1.5" whites, I started piecing some sashing. Putzy, putzy, putzy. It's this method: "place the 1.5" blue square on the 5.5" white strip, sew the diagonal, trim off access." On BOTH sides of the 5.5" strip. Then, sew two of the strips together. Ugh, ugh, ugh. I'm kind of tired of such SMALL pieces!!!

But, lo-n-behold. Throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening, I've been able to complete ALL the white sashings. I'm actually amazed I haven't run out of material! I mean, those white PJ's weren't all that big, even with the shorts. I have the solid burgandy colored pants yet that haven't been used at all. I will most likely use these as a border, so this will end up being an excellent sized quilt for Dad.



Here is one fullly completed section that shows how the sashing creates the blue stars.


I won't get a lot of quilting time tomorrow because we plan to plant the garden and do some other yard work. Spring has FINALLY sprouted here in Wisconsin, but I'm a bit nervous about planting yet. It's still unseasonably cold---many nights are still in the 30's!!!

Some new progress: Stars n Stripes

I did indeed sew for a bit last night, but only an hour. By 9:30, I was cashed! These "Block #1's" were half completed, so I was able to whip them out in no time tonight. (18 of them)

I really didn't think I would get all that far because I didn't start sewing until 7:00 tonight, and I wasn't overly motivated. Besides, these blocks may be small and relatively quick, but they can be putzy.

I needed to cut up some more 1.5" strips from the white and red PJ's before I was able to begin the Block #2's.

The 2nd blocks (17 of them) surprisingly went together rather quickly; maybe in a little over an hour. I took some time to lay them out, and I truly had all intentions of stopping once I snapped the picture of all of them laid out, but.......we know how that goes.....

Upon seeing them finished, and knowing it was only 9:15, I figured I would take a little time to attempt some of the sashings. These two sashings were done lickity-split! And naturally, I wanted to get an idea of how large the quilt is at this point, so I took some time to lay out all the blocks and blue squares, leaving room for the sashings yet to come.

With some borders, this is going to be a great lap-sized quilt for my Dad (if I decide to give it to him.) I'm torn between this one and the Oklahoma Backroads quilt that is still spread out on the floor too. Realistically, I think I can finish both within the next two weeks before his Retirement party, so maybe I'll take both of them and have Mom decide. Or, heck, maybe I'll just gift both to him!!! :0)

Staying afloat...somehow

Whew! What DAY is it today?!?!?
It's been crazy and chaotic this week, and FINALLY I have chance to breathe...

I'm not even going to BOTHER trying to recap the past few days; it's been a complete whirlwind.

But, amazingly, I was able to complete OC#3 and catch myself up! I even incorporated some of the new scraps purchased over the weekend.






I also have been slowly cutting up the "Grandpa PJ's" (burgandies, white and blue) I bought this weekend. In a few free moments, I did some surfing on the net to find the "perfect pattern" for the fabrics. Golly! That was tough! At first I didn't find anything. But then, after another hour, I had four possibilities, and I couldn't decide! My choices were a simple Ohio Star block.........
.....and whatever this block to the right is called :0)






...and then I found this quilt, and liked the layout. It would be very easy to make in reds, white, and blues.


But I finally decided on a design by Quick Quilts: "Stars and Stripes Forever"
Last night, I actually put an hour's worth of time into cutting some strips and piecing two log cabin blocks for the pattern. I hope to put some hours in later tonight, too...
....
But FIRST, I have a handful of Algebra tests to grade. I WILL keep that top priority! :0)