December quilt #1 done; Many to go...

Twilight was finished up this evening; the last stitches going in at 9:45 p.m.

This is for a customer and will be heading towards Virginia tomorrow, ahead of deadline :0)

The customer chose a black backing; I guess I could maybe see why--it hides dirt easier :0) However, since I have loose threads ALLLL over the place downstairs, I needed to take a lint roller to the back before I packaged it up for shipping ;0)

The quilting pattern is a pantograph: Chinese Crescents.

Twilight (71" x 71")

Off to a good start for December :0)

Tomorrow's goals:
Quilt Kayla's Morning Run
Quilt Angie's Brown Paisley

10-minute block! MOTIVATION was found!!!

While parking my butt last night, I perused some new sites I found via a "King-size quick quilt pattern" goggle search. (HEY! When suddenly THREE new quilts are sequestered in the same weekend, ONE MONTH from Christmas---the quilts need to be QUICK!) ;0)

Well....check out this 10-minute block video clip. It just seemed too slick NOT to try out immediately!!!!

V'iola....this is ABSO-TOOTIN-LUTELY a quick, simple and neat-o block! These fabrics have been sitting, waiting patiently since this summer when my SIL requested another "floofy" quilt. Remember that post???

If you visit that post, you'll see I took a pic of the originally planned pattern, but....eh......that one would have also been quick to piece, but.....I just really was impressed with this 10-minute block.

So, I grabbed a pencil and scrap paper to draft up a quick pattern. My plan (which may not be easily seen) is to alternate a lighter block with a darker block, with alternating light/dark sashings, pending what color block is next to it. {{did that even make sense????}} I think I have a name for this already too!! Jen's Diamonds.

Anyway...I whipped up two 10-minute blocks before closing up shop last night. And they'll need to just wait patiently on the side because my Connecting Threads shipment arrived today. I ordered some of the Essential Pro threads to try out on a customer quilt and so far, being three passes into the quilting, so good. NO thread breakage....very little lint so far. Once I'm finished with the quilt (Twilight), I'll give a complete review of the thread in case some of you have been curious about trying it out too. I REALLLY like Connecting Threads! I've ordered fabric a few different times......{{**sigh**}} and yeah.....this time too! I'm not really looking forward to figuring out my Stash Report for this week! YIKERS! {{I'm sure Jill won't mind it though. She'd love some company in the "red-world".}} :0)

So...took a little break to have a snack and some tea (and to update the blog). I'll see how far I can get with the quilting of Twilight tonight; I set Sunday as the deadline so it can be mailed out on Monday. I'm EASILY going to make that deadline :0)

OH GREAT! Now I need to find some wood to knock----knowing Murphy, my machine will probably go wacky on me so that I won't be able to finish this quilt, not to mention all the others that are awaiting completion before that glorious day 26 days from now!

Happy Tuesday!
;0)

Twilight top done; and an episode of "The Birds"

Twilight (72" x 72")

Despite needing to do some lesson planning and paper grading, I couldn't resist getting downstairs to put the final borders on the Twilight quilt. So....now.....may the lesson-planning and paper-grading commence.


OH....and.....as i was laying out the top for a final pic, I heard this RUKUS something awful outside!!!! It's been awhile since I've seen any Hitchcock episodes, and admittingly, I have never seen "The Birds"....but.....I'm kinda thinking this looks a bit like a scene from that movie!!! These red-winged blackbirds were EVERYWHERE!!! It was quite the spectical.

Happy Sunday

October BOM, Twilight, and Caramel Apples

Double Star Chain

The third October BOM was pieced today. Sometime soon I'll see what I can do with the 17 blocks that I have (recall I made a top with 13 blocks earlier this summer)

My designwall still was showcasing the Twilight layout from a month ago. Sure....why not....I was game to piece it together.

The first set of borders are pinned and ready for sewing, but.....I think that's all she wrote for today. After making some homemade Chicken-Vegetable-Noodle soup for lunch, I wasn't overly inspired anymore for quilting. Rather, I enjoyed soaking in the tub for over an hour, relaxing with the bubbles and reading a good book.

Then, after some pleading eyes from a few lil' girls, I made up some caramel apples for an afternoon snack. {Oh, and I allowed the girls to stay in their PJs all day----going green here; WHY have them dirty another set of clothes only to put their PJs on again 12 hours later????} ;0)

Happy Saturday

A bit of normalcy

Yesterday after lunch, I actually packed up the sewing for the day because I KNEW I needed to spend some time on my Statistics lessons. I can't believe how much I've relearned over these first couple of weeks; I haven't had a Stats class in quite a while, and I've never had the opportunity to teach it, so.....I'm doing my best to stay at least a week ahead of the class. I also took care of most of my other school duties yesterday and the first part of this morning.

By 2:00 this afternoon, I was ready to head back downstairs to see if I could figure out the setting triangles for my Twilight layout.
This fabric used wasn't my first choice, but I didn't have enough of the other material. Without a doubt, I'll be using the light speck fabric as one of my borders to try to lighten the overall quilt, but....yeah....I think this'll turn out just fine. THANK YOU to all of you who responded with the calculation help! I didn't realize that Bonnie's site had the magic wand I needed. Thanks Erica!

I haven't updated my Stash Report in about a month...

Obviously, I haven't used much lately, but I did purchase this set of fabrics with a pattern in mind called In Flight. I need to make a quilt for DH's boss's daughter for Christmas, and I thought maybe this'll be up her alley. I hope to also finish up Judy's June Mystery quilt and perhaps I'll have her choose between the two.

So, Stash Report: September 6 - 12
Used/week:
1.438 yards
Purchased/week:
12 yards

Used/year
181.735 yards
Purchased/year:
185 yards

Net used:
-3.266 yards -- Back in the red. No big deal to me.


Yeah...Judy's June Mystery......I was doing SO WELL being on time with that too! But then my Bernina went hay-wire and I never really was able to get back to it once the Bernina came back home due to other projects calling my name. Oh well.....it'll see time again soon!

And we have some new additions to our family.....

It's hard to see here because Mama is protecting the little buggers.......but......
...last week, Caitlyn and Cassie came-a-runnin' in from gathering eggs yelling "We have a chick! We have a chick!" This brooding hen has been sitting on eggs since the middle of July. I kept an eye on her quite a bit at the beginning of August to see if any of the eggs would hatch (21 days incubation). Well, I kinda forgot about her since I've been secluded to my interior dwellings due to my allergies, and since then, she's been "collecting" a few more eggs---obviously! Over the following days last week, three eggs ended up hatching (a fourth would have, but DH wanted to test out one of the eggs JUST prior to the first egg hatching---wonderful timing, huh?) But anyway....three new members joining the Skattebo Ranch ;0)

I'm a bit pooped---just cuz. The laundry is JUST about finished; supper is calling my name to be made (trying a new recipe tonight of Pork meatballs in a homemade BBQ sauce); girls will need a bath tonight; and the Packers are on the boob-tube. So, I think I'll get supper going and then pick up my Stats book again to see if I can figure out the next chapter.

Yes, it felt good to get on the machine at least a LITTLE bit this weekend, but I'm okay needing to take this time away. By the time Volleyball season is over, I'll be 100% raring to go again to complete some of these quilts in time for Christmas.

Happy Sunday Football everyone! :0)

A little calculation help???

I'll admit; I don't feel like sitting and doing the math NOR looking around to find how to do these calculations because I want to keep sewing away downstairs with a few other projects that have been laying around in partial-completion-status. So.....

I don't have enough material to make any more of the Twilight blocks, therefore, I layed the 13 that I have out on-point. The blocks are 12.5" (12" finished).

Question 1: How large do I need to cut the setting triangles at the edges of this on-point setting? ie: what size square to cut to then cut on the diagonal to make the triangles?

Question 2: And what about the 4 corner triangles as well?

Not that it'll affect the calculations, but I plan to use sashing and corner stones to connect the blocks and then come up with something for the borders.

I TRULY TRULY TRULY appreciate any assistance here!

Perfect piecing! {{and a few other things...}}

I'm tickled....
I needed to measure out some borders tonight, and I usually just "measure" by laying the strips on top of the quilt down the center. (Read about Bonnie's Border tips here...) But here, I had to verify my measurement.....LOOK AT THAT PERFECT PIECING!!!! 50.5 needed to be the measurement! Wooo-hooooo!!!

Alright...alright...I wasn't going to show this one, but I WILL!!!!! This one needed to be 76.5......just a SMIDGE OFF!

Momma made some yummies for a snack tonight, too. Smore's via microwave :0)



OH! And check out this gem. I've established a new goal; every night/day I need to press-n-fold fabric from my boxes for at least 15 minutes.
I really have no idea if this came from Grandma's collection or if it was in one of the many, many boxes my mother has donated to me from various garage sales, goodwill sprees, or from the church's old collection. I really like the "oldness" to it----vintage, would you say? I didn't actually measure out how much there was, but at least 2 yards :0) Hmmmmm.......now to find the perfect pattern to use it in!

Psht----this was a garage sale find from last Friday (the quilt rack, NOT the fox skin). ONLY ONE DOLLAR!!!! Great find!!!!! LOL.....I told DH the caption for this pic should be...."No, that's NOT a cat." {{since so many quilters seem to have cats....}}......anyhoo......

I'd like to show you more pictures of the quilt I was working on tonight, but it'll stay quiet for a bit longer. {{One hint: BOM.}}

Alright all; gonna go check out the evening posts and then.....ah heck....I'm not tired yet, so maybe some drafting? Magazine browsing? Oooo....OR....I could finally crack open the newest Stephanie Meyer's book: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. Did you know you can read it here free (until July 5th)? I grabbed a copy at Target over the weekend. Gosh---for as obsessed as I was with the series, I'm surprised I haven't ignored life to get it read!!!

'night all.

A day off of school entailed...

A little bit of quilting....

...and a movie!

The movie was very enjoyable, and SO nice that it followed the book (much better than Twilight).

Tomorrow---more quilting. Maybe the Perkiomen Daydreams top will see a finish.

Happy Friday

gonna enjoy the weekend.....

It's Saturday morning, and I'm waiting patiently for the coffee to finish brewing and the muffins to finish baking. I was a determined and motivated lady last night: grading ALL of my tests from the day since I was out of the District for a workshop (14-Web Design quizzes, 25-Math 8 tests, 23-Algebra 8 HW-quizzes), prepped for all my classes next week; folded loads-n-loads of laundry that had been stock-piling over the past couple of days; washed and folded a couple other loads; boxed up some of the girls' clothes for GoodWill; boxed up the "better" of the girls' clothes for a friend's little girl; boxed up the clothes that still have TAGS on them to put up on eBay (oh yeah...gotta remember to find some time today to do that). Sure---it was literally midnight when I finally settled down to read a few pages of Breaking Dawn (the 4th book of the Twilight saga--re-reading) before calling it a night.

But now------*sigh*------I have the rest of the weekend to sew and quilt! Nothing (much) hanging over my head (I do have some more prepping I could do on computer for next week, but that won't take much time).

In between loads of laundry last night, I also was downstairs sewing up 24 more Shades of Green blocks. I now have 44 complete and they are laying out on the floor. No pics yet.....but maybe tonight?
So...what's on the agenda? I really should try to finish up the quilting on DD, then piece the 2 sections together, add the borders, and be DONE with it. I could (should) have that finished by the close of the weekend.
I could also work on finishing up the remaining blocks for Shades of Green, or do some more quilting on Steppin' Out. Ahhhh.....so many fun projects all awaiting.....

Okay---muffins just buzzed.
Have a great day!!!

Project updates...

The biggest project I have been undertaking over the past few days is cutting and sewing up a sample for the Advanced Beginner Quilting (Steppin' Out) class I am planning to offer over the month of May and beginning of June. This one will take more than the 4 nights that the Beginner's class was; I'm thinking more like 5 solid work nights with a couple of hours of "homework" every week. I had seen a picture of a quilt similar to this in my browsing on the web a year or so ago; it's use of 4-patches is enough to keep it still at a beginner's stage, yet can be considered a bit more advanced due to the HST's (half-square-triangles.) I also plan to demonstrate the Quilting-in-Sections method for those individuals who want to attempt machine-quilting on their DSM (domestic sewing machine.)

DH went to play open-gym volleyball tonight (since we had a bye in our tournament series), so I headed downstairs (UNWILLINGLY if you can believe it!!!----still dog tired! I can't seem to shake it; it must be this poopy, gloomy, rainy, cold weather!) Anyway.......

.....I headed down with intentions of just doing something small; cut and sew up the March block for Beth Ferrien's Now-n-Forever BOM (block-of-the-month) quilt . I needed to see something "finished," (even if it was only two blocks) since I have so many loose ends downstairs. Seriously; I should take a pic of all the projects I have laying scattered all over the basement floor! DoubleDelight is laying out on the main carpet area, untouched in about 2 weeks; Steppin' out is in the main concrete area; the Seven Shirts is hanging on one main wall reminding me it needs batting and quilting; my 100+ Perkiomen Daydreams blocks are scattered next to DD; Oklahoma Backroads is folded up waiting for batting and quilting; Country Spirit, Chloe's Colors, and Scrappy Irish Chain are all laying over the back of a spare matress, all in different stages of quilting, Lake-n-Lodge is also in that stack, basted; March green quilt blocks are on one shelf, and then 8 or so other UFO's are stacked in some kind of order in a spare book case......

*sigh*

When the two BOM blocks were done, I worked some more on Steppin' Out and have most of the rows sewn together, but quit at 9:00 to head up to blog......

Catching up from Monday and Tuesday.....

I know I said in my blog post yesterday that I hadn't been done any quilting on Monday or Tuesday, which is true, but I helped Cassie put together her own special blanket from fleece; one of the simple "cut and tie" blankets. She measured up the fabric and matched the bottom and top up, trimmed up the edges, and then cut slits about an inch apart. The whole project took about an hour and half; she was very excited to sleep with it right away Monday night!!!





Last night, pretty much from the moment we got home from school/work/day care and after supper was finished, I relaxed in the glider with a good book : New Moon, the second book of the Twilight Saga. I'm re-reading it (ONLY for the 2nd time---honest!) Candace and Caitlyn were going around the house with my camera, snappin' pics from their perspective again.


A few other shots they took....... Happy Wednesday!

1000 apologies!

My goodness golly! No genuine excuses here other than simple "different priorities" over the past two weeks.

I AM sorry that my postings (and checking in on others' postings, for that matter) have been so non-existing over the past two weeks. My followers know that LAST week it was due to my obsession with Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga; this week---well, it's PART due to Twilight (a sorta-kinda 5th book posted on her site) AND new book "my girls" have recommended (The Hunger Games) which I'm still not so sure about----I'm only a chapter into it. AND then on top of all of that, I HAVE been faithful to a certain extent towards my C'mas project responsibilities AND I have also needed to take two evenings to put a "rough draft" of a quilting class together since my school's Community Education Coordinator wants me to teach one and the deadline for brochure printing is Monday. SO----I needed to put a top together to have a sample photo, AND to get an idea of how many sessions/duration of each session will be needed.

So----my evenings have usually ended around 11:00 - 12:00 the past two weeks, and I just haven't been putting "blogging" in the top 5 "things-to-do" lately. Please forgive me---I WILL be checking in with everyone tomorrow night for sure! I'm making it a date!!!!

Oh!!!! Speaking of date!
My husband is taking me out tonight to dinner and a movie.
alright, alright---so I kinda TOLD him he was----he didn't really ask

What movie, you ask????? *chuckle*
AS IF you need to ask!!!

*nod-nod*
Yup....."Twilight" again, now that it's in the theater in OUR town (tiny little blip on a map, so we never get the big movies until a couple of weeks after debut). Yeah---I went to the movie last weekend with my babysitter, traveling down to a city 30 miles away, paying $7.75 per person. Our theater only charges $6.00, and I suppose it's only fair ????

Anyway----so I am off to pick up the babysitter. We have a new girl (sweet little Freshman) lined up tonight; not old enough to drive, so....... Cassie is excited to "meet someone new"; the other two don't really know what to think. They don't understand why Nikki (normal babysitter) isn't coming........


Happy Friday!

Life may now commence...

I have a strange urge to share with my blogging world the exact moment when I feel my life can once again return to normal, if that truly will ever be possible after having submerged my entire being into the trials and hardships of Bella and Edward.

My goodness! Even from my words appearing on the page, I can tell how extremely this Twilight series has had the utmost affect on my life.
(Okay, maybe I *AM* being a wee bit melodramatic there!!!!)
For the past 9 days, every free moment of my time has been emerged into such a fantasy, wishing that some part of this world could actually be true. It has only been a few moments since I have read the final words from Stephanie Meyer, closing her fourth book, breaking dawn, with the words of finality. The End.

I can only hope that sometime in her life, before she reaches her deathbed, that she will reconsider and decide to open yet another chapter into this amazing fantasy world.

Until then, I can only hope and hold onto the wonderful story that she has shared with us.

If you have not read this series, I strongly share my opinion that if you allow yourself, you will also find your life slightly changed from the experience.

I love this story.
And I can't wait to read it again

Guilty Pleasures!

Sorry folks, but my life has been put on standby! My 8th grade girls.....I tell ya! Those girls have me HOOKED and OBSESSED with this series. I have been VERY dutiful during my working hours at school to ensure I had NO HOMEWORK to take home every night, solely so I can read, read, read!




Sure enough, Monday morning, I hit up my "Twilight-groupies" to see if anyone could loan me a copy of book 2 - New Moon. Whew......THANKFULLY a student did! SO, Monday night, until midnight, I read, read, read, and almost near finished it!




So, Tuesday rolled around, and I was "hunting down" a copy of book 3 - Eclipse all day long. FINALLY, at the end of the day, the rumor spread enough, that another girl (not quite in the "groupie-bunch" came to loan me her copy. Ya see, most of the "groupie girls" have a copy of book 3, but many of them are still reading it too. So, Tuesday night.....I read, read, read :0) *duh* However, by 9:45 my eyes were SADLY closing due to my late night the night before.


Yesterday rolled around, and I hunted down a copy of book 4, THINKING that I'd be finishing up Book 3 and I wanted to continue right away. However, I actually decided to join real-life for a little while and worked on putting a puzzle together with Cassie. So, I only was able to put about 2 hours worth of reading in last night........

However, I am expecting a copy of book 4 to hit my desk today from the same girl who loaned me book 2. She is still in the process of reading book 3, but I ASSURED her, I would finish 4 before she finishes 3! :0)

Anyway-----needless to say, I have done NO QUILTING. My life shall return to normal soon, though :0) Honestly....I don't know HOW readers could wait for the next books to come out if they were reading them once directly published!

Happy Thursday!

Loads of updates and latest OBSESSION!

Oh where to begin.....
Wednesday, after the frantic packing of the car after spending the morning and afternoon creating the C'mas Stockings quilt, I grabbed the girls and headed to Mom's. Once all things were unloaded at Mom's, I parked my butt in the glider, and started hand-sewing bindings. I wrapped up Andre's by 10:00, and started in on the C'mas Stockings quilt and got half done by 11:30, when I finally decided it was time to get to bed.

I have other updates to come yet, but I must jump into my latest "obsession" that my post title hints to. Last week, my 8th grade girls kept nudging me to read "this book" over and over and over. Finally, after seriously five of them kept saying I HAVE to read it, I went to Amazon.com to get an overview of what the book was about since I had no idea about it. Well, being as observant as they are, suddenly one of my girls shouted (during silent SSR time, by the way) "Mrs. Skattebo! you don't have to order it, you can just borrow my copy!!!" Then, after class THREE of them came running (literally!) down the hall with their copies, begging for me to take her copy over the other's. It was quite funny! But, I chose the first girl's, and seriously watched the others sulk, but.....oh well. Anyway, that night (I think that was last Monday), I started reading a few pages, nothing major..... The next day, my girls were wondering which part of the book I was at, HINTING that once I "get into it," I wouldn't be able to put it down. Anyway, that night (Tuesday), I read a few more pages finishing Chapter 2 before my eyelids said it was bed time.

So---fast forward to Wednesday night after sewing bindings. It was 11:30, but I figured I'd read a few more pages before sleeping, and I think I finished maybe three pages before I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

But then, Thursday morning, I wasn't in the mood to sew yet, so I grabbed the book and read. And read......and read......and read.......snacked a little for lunch....read some more......shirked off helping in the "Thanksgiving meal prep" for as long as I could.....sighed when I had to put it down......ate some dinner.....cleaned up dishes.......and went RIGHT BACK TO THE BOOK. There were a few other mini breaks I needed to do----get the girls to bed, etc....but by 11:30 that night, I was done. OMGOODNESS!!! IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD! And then......I did the BIGGEST BOO-BOO ever!!! I read the proloude (sp?) to the next book in the series that was printed at the end of this one. OHHHHHHHH----that was a mistake!!!!!!

So, at this point, I was frustrated for a few reasons....
a) I didn't really think it would be that good
b) I didn't realize it was a SERIES
c) After spending all day FRIDAY searching EVERY BOOKSTORE IN TOWN, I STILL wasn't able to read more because not a single store had a copy of book 2!!!!
d) Finally------while watching TV Friday night, suddenly I looked up during a commercial movie review. OMGOODNESS! It was the BOOK!!!! The girls NEVER TOLD ME it had been made into a movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, fastforward to my drive home Saturday afternoon, I was working on a last minute plan of arranging a babysitter for the night so I could go see the movie, and I DID! I took my babysitter while her mother watched the girls. Yup.....her mother watched the girls. That family adores my girls, so "mom" was more than excited to watch them.

So.....have you guessed Book/Movie Twilight from my descriptions????? Ohhhh....*sigh*....it was Soooooooo good! So now, I can't WAIT until tomorrow to ask the girls if anyone has book 2 to loan me????? *chuckle*


Okay, so time to rewind back to Friday. As Angela wrote about on her blog, for those non-Americans out there, Black Friday marks the official start in the USA for C'mas shopping. Two years ago, my sis and I were bonkers, starting the day hitting stores at 4:30 am and went until 11:00 pm! CRAZY! Last year, my mom and I hit the stores for a few hours. This year, my sis and I looked at the sales flyers the night before, but really didn't find any "we HAVE to get this" deals! So, we weren't in any big rush that morning---headed out and hit the stores at 8:30. We really thought we'd be home after a few hours, but amazingly, we were finding some great deals even after the "4:00-10:00" Bargain Door Buster bargains. The next thing we knew, it was 4:00, and we had to get back soon so Cass could open presents for her Birthday. She turned 8. So, we bought a B-day cake, ordered some Papa-Murphies pizza, and headed home.
While the pizza was cooking, we had Cass open her presents so the evening wouldn't get too late. She stocked up on some new Littlest Pet Shop presents and clothes, and also "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie. So, once we were done eating, the girls played in G'mas toy room and watched the movie while my sis and I unloaded the car



For the next couple of hours, we sorted all the packages, and I even WRAPPED EVERYTHING! There was no point in me taking everything back to my house, ONLY to schlep it back down to Mom's as C'mas time. So, I can now say that I am 95% DONE WITH C'MAS SHOPPING! I only have DH's parents to buy for yet....that's it.

Saturday morning, we visited my sis-in-law's house on the way back home to ours. We had a brunch, ate some more bday cake, and Cass opened a few more gifts. We needed to head out though by noon so we could get home for Cass to have a friend over from 3:00 - 6:00.
While she and her friend were playing up in her room, Candace, Caitlyn and myself started putting up the C'mas tree. Cass and her friend came down for some Bday cake (sigh---it's ALMOST gone now!) and then wanted to help decorate the tree, so I popped up some popcorn so they could make some popcorn garland. The tree is almost done, we have a few more garlands to string up, and then I'll snap a pic.

The rest of the night, I already talked about------*sigh*----the Twilight movie. We went to the theater in Rice Lake, a town 20 miles away. Spooner (just down the road) isn't showing it (yet). I may have to convince DH to take me out once it shows here.

Anyway----today has been an "unwinding" day. I've tidied up the sewing room a little, spent maybe an hour sewing some odds-n-ends, but I just don't feel like much more than today. Clothing is beckoning to me after being out of the house for a few days. *sigh*......back to the realworld again!

UGH! I almost forgot---I also have some Pre-Calc tests calling my name to be graded too. Will it be bad if I hold off until Prep time tomorrow?????

Happy Sunday!