Well, if you were to read the previous post (from this morning), I certainly did NOT live up to many of those expectations (of heading downstairs), BUT I DID RUN! Shortly after posting (like, seriously a few minutes), the clouds parted and were completely non-existent after another 5 minutes. So....OUTSIDE I went!

I spent almost 2 hours mowing the lawn and then headed in for a morning snack for me and the girls. And since it was so nice outside, I shooshed them all outside while I decided to weed the rock-garden. I haven't had a chance to work on this one yet this year, since most of my outside-time is dedicated to the garden.


I don't always do a pre/post, but Angela inspired me to do so because of her pre/post kitchen photos yesterday. It sure is nice seeing the change though----even when the change only took about an hour to accomplish.




While I was weeding, the girls decided they wanted to make up a dance / cheer routine. When they were finished, I needed to judge the final routine. Well, um.......I love my girls, but they sure are not choreographers!!!














Also, I haven't shown a pic of Nikki (our babysitter) receiving the Double Delight quilt for graduation. I sure love all the wonderful patterns that Bonnie shares with us!




Finally, YES, I RAN! (and it humbled me!) Oh.....all the fitness that we lose after sitting idle for so long.
Ah well...one little step at a time, and anything is possible.

Time to share one of my favorite quotes, and I have it inscribed in my Road ID bracelet:
Progress, not Perfection.
:0)

I'm heading up to the farm for the day tomorrow to deliver the DWR rings to MIL. We'll talk over what our next steps will be, visit for the afternoon, and then I'll be back on the road to home tomorrow, late afternoon.

No title fits this post :0)

Disclaimer!
First, I need to forewarn those of you who ONLY think this is a quilting blog (due to comment left a few days ago)----
Yes, this is primarily a quilting blog, but the title is called "Amy's PassionS" (plural). Running and my family are also important passions in my life, so beware as you read........
:0)

The weekend at the Farm was relaxing; a little bit of grading accomplished, three quilts completely checked off the list by sewing on the Back connnector-strip (Double Delight for Nikki's Graduation, Chloe's Colors to be gifted to Chloe at the end of the month, Steppin' Out just for me for now and to be used as a class demo.) I also started clipping seam allowances on two baby rag quilts that I whipped out last weekend-----oh yeah, I haven't blogged about them yet. Pics to come once I finish them up. They will be given to my mother's church as donations to the Baptismal chests. (Cute adorable cedar chests that are given to families when babies are baptised----ADORABLE! We have three; one for each of the girls; PERFECT way to collect memorabilia through the years).

I sewed up another Rolling Rock block last night; 2 down, 11 more to go. Then (Yes, Angela--to answer your question:) somehow they get appliqued to backing fabric, add some sashing, borders...and just like that (**snapping fingers**), you have a finished quilt. PSHT! Yea, if only it were that easy! IF it was, then it wouldn't currently be considered a UFO, huh?????

It's going to be quiet from me for a while; I have Parent-Teacher conferences tomorrow evening, then will be heading out of town for a Math Convention Wednesday - Friday.

We (family) have ambitions of working on prepping the garden this weekend and planting a few things. The "big" weekend for planting this far North is Memorial Weekend, BUT there are a few things that are safe to plant since they are cooler-weather plants (ie: potatoes, onions, sweet corn, to name a few). Calidore had asked how big our garden was since DH used a tractor to till it up.....
ummmm.....it's big enough to bring in the heavy machinery in the Spring rather than hand-tilling for hours and hours and hours. Does that satisfy your question Calidore? **chuckle** Golly, I don't know. Estimating........ 30 meters x 10 meters (Americans, guesstimate the equivalency by substituting a yard for a meter -- ALMOST the same size). Then we (DH) also tilled up a new "plot" this past week so we can plant LOTS and LOTS of sweet corn. That section is currently about the same size as our entire garden, and it's solely going to be corn. (I don't know if DH plans to make it bigger.) We live on 10 acres (4 wooded), so we have the land to play around with. Rather than having a HUGE lawn, it's nice to have some produce being produced by our own sweat (cheesy grin at the 'ol timers talk). Yup---it's official, I now talk like my father when it comes to taking pride in what we can create with a little bit of blood, sweat, and tears.....

Okay folks---DH wants my assistance at the kitchen table cutting up some potatoes.......
Happy Monday and have a great week!

DD -- Done! [[almost]]

This REALLY did come together quite quickly once I sat down and "just did it!" The last few blocks were pieced last Sunday and Monday; recall it was all basted and partially quilted on Monday as well.


This morning, I pulled it out again with hopes to finish it. Quilting consisted of traveling hearts down the length of the pink vertical 1-inch block "lines"; stippling in the light squares, stitch-in-ditch along the edge of each large block; stippling in the borders.

The binding is already completed. I have gotten quite good at sewing the binding to the front, taking time to press it over&around edge, then stitching in the ditch with machine on the front side (which just catches the edge of the binding on the back (rather than hand-sewing to the back---ugh-ugh-ugh!).
However, I still need to hand-sew the connector-strip on the back (the strip that pieced the two quilted sections together).

I have a few quilts now awaiting labels, so maybe I'll make that a task for tomorrow.
-Chloe's Colors
-Andrea's Garden
-Double Delights
-For Baby
-Oklahoma Backroads
-Sevens Shirt (this isn't quilted yet though)
-Steppin' Out (midst of quilting)
-Country Spirit (midst of quilting)

Happy Saturday!

A WIP brought to surface...

Amazingly, I pulled out the DD bits-n-pieces Sunday night and started putzing on some blocks again. After a couple of hours Sunday night, and most of the day off-n-on yesterday, I have the top completed, basted into 2 sections, and about 70% completed with the actual quilting. WOW! That came together fast!


Tonight, rather than quilting on the DD, I printed out the April step of Beth Ferrier's BOM. The first two blocks were easy-piecing! This month-----oh dear-----involves applique. I am NOT an applique'r! I've made one applique quilt (you may remember Caitlyn's Flowers ??? ((pictured below))) Anyway---here is the first attempt at the April Rose block. Ummm.....I defintely have to rethink the placement of the darker/lighter fabrics. (You see the darker pink through the lighter pink?) 28 of these bad boys need to be made. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. This one took me two hours!!!!!

The weather was once again GLORIOUSLY SPRING today! I headed out for my longest run yet.....3 whopping miles. (of course, I walked probably about half of a mile, though---up those lovely hills :0) )

Happy Tuesday!

Some quick work...

I didn't get any quilting done last night, at least not with the sewing machine. Instead, I grabbed the markers and graph paper and started planning a quilt top for the next "Advanced Beginner" quilting class that I'll be offering during the month of May. Some of my ladies from the Beginners class has shown interest in the "next" class, so......

But tonight, I did head downstairs for two hours. During which time, I finished putting together all the pink double-nine blocks.....





......and sewed together 15 more March blocks, which now brings me to a total of 20.




I am now upstairs watching "Castle."



Boy----I have a lot of projects on that WIP and UFO list! AND, this new class is right on the horizon, so I'll have to put some time into that this weekend.....

One day at a time :0) I can't really say One project at a time, though!!!! :0)

Happy Monday

Oh my Gawwd

If you don't recognize this lady, that's probably a good thing! Tonight, rather than heading downstairs, I parked my butt in the glider and worked on a presentation for tomorrow's inservice (that I need to present, duh, right??) Anyway, so DH took control of the remote like he usually does (not a problem with me, REALLY!) and he leaves it on the Bravo Channel which was showing a back-to-back-to-BACK evening of the show "Millionaire Matchmaker.

((*rolling eyes*))

You have GOT to be kidding me!!! I'm sorry, but even now I sit here, chuckling, and shaking my head at what I watched during these three hours. And it's not even so much the guys and the girls that were "dating" that got me rolling my eyes, but it was the HOST! For instance, tonight she was "scolding" one of her male clients to "get over the 20-somethings already! You want the 20-something, air-brushed cover model and they don't exist!!!".......

uummmmmmmmmmm..........


but yet....when I got to the Bravo website to find a picture to post on here......what do I find but a CLEARLY "airbrushed" and "face-lifted-with-wonderful-digital-imagery" picture! HA! It's just kinda goofy and hypocritical. I suppose I just need to say......"to each their own."



Anyway.

The plans are to head to my parents this weekend; Cassie is signed up for First Communion classes in the "hometown" church. Yeah---maybe a bit extreme, taking First Communion almost three hours away, BUT there just isn't a place up here that we've committed to and feel comfortable with. Is that a bit of an excuse?......yes, I'll admit that. Sadly, I will also admit that finding a church just isn't a priority in our life. YET, my mother does do her job to remind me the importance of allowing the girls the opportunity to know a "christian" education, and I DO believe in that as well. So, for the next three weekends, I have committed to driving to Mom's house so Cassie can have her First Communion.

While she is at her classes, my plan is to work on quilting in the basement of Mom's house. Within the next two weeks, I need to finish Chloe's Colors since 4th quarter starts up soon. I really want to have this quilt finished and hanging on the wall when I get the 8th graders back.

Other than CC, the only other quilt that has a definite-must-make-deadline is DoubleDelight for Nikki's (our AWESOME babysitter) graduation.







Oh My Gawwwwwd! There is ANOTHER episode on after this one! That's 4! *rolling eyes*. But the sad thing: ............... I'll probably stay up and watch it. *shaking head, chuckling*

Satisfying Sunday - Double Delights

After a morning of laundry and tidying up, it was finally time to head downstairs to put some time into the Double Delight. I hadn't cut into any of the pink yet, and I knew my supplies were limited. SO, rather than slicing up the 1.5" inches right away for the Nine patches, I jumped ahead to cut the setting triangles first (step 6, I think?). The remaining fabric was then cut into the 1.5" strips. 130 nine-patches complete.

I really don't know what the time frame was today; DH called me up around 1:00 for lunch and shortly there-after, I headed back down with his permission.

Around 4:00, I headed upstairs to start dinner, at which time I had completed about 4 or 5 of the step 4 blocks. Around 7:45, I was back downstairs to work on some more blocks. THEN, just like Andee, I had to whip up some Double Nine blocks so I could see what the quilt was looking like. Feeling motivated from the layout being on the floor, I headed back to the machine for some power-sewing of the Double Nine blocks......

........and this is where the remaining 17 blocks currently stand. I could have powered through the last 34 seams, BUT I wanted to be sure to blog my updates and I didn't want to prolong bedtime TOO MUCH tonight. See, Andee----that hour I lost last night SURE could have come in handy today! *wink*

As everyone else has said who has made this quilt----It is beautiful and exciting to see it come together. It is amazing how many pieces this quilt has, yet part-by-part, it is manageable.

Candace grabbed my camera this afternoon and went off a-runnin', snappin' pictures again. There were a few cute ones, but many more "delete-able" ones. And once again, Carol, she snapped a picture of the entire wall-hanging this time. She must like it :0)

Where to begin......

Holy Buckets! It's Saturday morning! WHERE did this week go????

It started with HAPPY QUILTING Monday, and flew from there......
.......tired Tuesday with only an hour of quilting...
......Wild Wednsesday with no quilting, but lots of volleball
......"Thrilling" Thursday with the family joining me at school from 6:00-8:00 in an attempt to organize & inventory the Volleyball storage
....."Fun" Friday with our school's Game Night where I was asked to referee the "He-Man" volleyball tournament.

So today......will be SEWING SATURDAY! It should also be Soapy Saturday (laundry and dishes!) and Storage Saturday (picking up the week's accumulation of toys in living room), but........can't I wait for all of that until tomorrow? After all, tomorrow is still an "S" day :0)

After spending some time this AM catching up on blogs, I came to realize that Nancy's (Patchwork Penguin) UFO Challenge actually DID have a challenge for January! YIKES! I WILL, I WILL, I WILL catch up on those UFO's, BUT I also have deadlines looming over my head for some of my WIP's. Today, I will work on Double Delight. Graduation will arrive before I know what hit me, and the recipient is TOO SPECIAL to not have this quilt ready. She was just announced as a Co-Valedictorian! Actually, we have THREE Co-Valedictorian's this year, all with 4.0 GPA's. All are females, and all are wonderful students. BUT, even more-so, they all are equally giving to the community, to their school, and all have WONDERFUL morals; patient, honest; none are "clicky"---all treat their classmates with respect. Our Salutatorian is male; great academics and wonderful athlete. I spoke with him yesterday; (it was the first time I had seen him since the announcement), and I asked him about his 3.997 GPA (which basically equates to two A-'s somewhere in his HS career). I loved his response! He said......"*groan* Freshman Civics. I came into HS with the 'I haven't ever needed to study so why start now' attitude and it kicked me in the butt." The reason I loved his response was because I was supervising the 8th grade study hall at the time and it was so GOOD for those 8th graders to hear those words. But then I asked him about his other A-, and he said "Phy Ed." WHAT?!?!??! He merely chuckled and said....."yeah, pretty stupid for me, huh???" Afterall, he IS a top athlete; football, basketball, baseball.

Anyway-----whoa....that last paragraph sure went off on a tangent, huh?
Alrighty then........I'm off!

Andee---better watch out! I may go into overdrive!
OH! AND.........We lose an hour tonight to day light's savings (RIGHT???? I'm not THAT 'out of it', right???? It IS this weekend??)
..... :0( Andee, are you in the timezone that stays the same? Or is that New Mexico? I can never remember. If you don't lose an hour, we'll have to remember that in the long run of things.....
*wink*

Seven Shirts progress

Since Nancy (Life is a Stitch) posted yet another step for the Sevens Shirts mystery, I figured it was time to get downstairs to make the blocks from step 3. Ho-hum, ho-hum, an hour-n-half later, not only were the Snowball blocks finished from step 3, but they were also paired up and pieced into the quilt's center (step 4). THANKS NANCY! This went lickity-split!





However, sorry Nancy, but I just couldn't see those little "trimmed-corners" going into ANYTHING other than some bonus triangles! So, I eye-balled up each corner-to-corner piece on the snowball blocks, then double-sewed in order to get 48 bonus tris! Whether these get used up in the border (???), or if they get saved for some other scrap project, it doesn't matter to me. But, once again, just LOOK at what can be saved and "recycled" instead of simply tossing as scraps.!!! I'll be able to piece 24 pinwheel blocks, finishing at 3" (3.5" unfinished).



Last night, after volleyball, DH and I stopped at Walmart to pick up a few odds-n-ends. While walking down one of the center aisles, I noticed a few racks of clearance items. HOLY BUCKETS! These are Plus-sized capris (size 20W). 98% cotton, 2% spandex....I couldn't resist! They were only ONE DOLLAR! Not only did I pick up these, but there was also a hot-pink pair (size 16W) that I grabbed for $1 as well. AMAZING deal! Sometimes my DH can just be goofy! When we got home, he (for some reason) felt he needed to model the capris for our babysitter! We had a good giggle!

Friday tomorrow!!!! Let's see----goals for the weekend:
BESIDES housework: Depending if Nancy posts anymore clues, I might try piecing the Diamond Strips & Scrappy Baskets together since I THINK I know which avenue I'll head down now. THANKS for all the suggestions, by the way! I thought about the name for the quilt while I was mindlessly piecing the snowball blocks tonight-------I'm thinking: Grandma & Catherine. Catherine was my Aunt who passed on from pancreatic cancer many years ago. My mother is thinking MOST of the "stash" I received from Grandma ACTUALLY belonged to Catherine. And since so much of the scraps that were used in both sets of blocks came from Grandma's (Catherine's) stash, it just seems very fitting to me. I can't help but think about both of them anytime I work with much of the stash/scrap fabric anyway.....

Also, I think DD has been on hold long enough; perhaps I'll dig into step 3 with that as well.


Happy "almost" Friday!

"Class Act" - Night 3 & some homework

Wednesday night was the 3rd session of the Beginning Quilting class I'm teaching. These ladies are the best bunch! I mean, there wasn't ANY complaining at all when I asked them to get crawlin on the floor to start getting those borders on! AND, Janet here had a WONDERFUL night with NO machine problems! Woo-hoo!

The night started with piecing border strips using a 45 degree seam. I used a tutorial from McCall's Quilting: 45 Seam to show the ladies the technique. After a few "unsewing" sessions, all the ladies were able to get the border strips pieced.

I shared Bonnie's method of "measuring borders", which is when the ladies found themselves on the floor. :0)







However, it didn't take too long for all of us to realize that with this quilt being small enough, we could use the counter space that was available in the classroom. Hey---and LOOK! We can see Melissa's face this time!!! :0) *snicker*

Time flew, and it was time to leave before we knew it. The ladies still had the outer border to finish, so they all decided it was okay to have some "homework." They also decided they would be okay piecing the backing together before next Monday's class.

I put a request out via email to my ladies for one more piece of homework, if they are feeling up for it. It should take about 30-60 minutes. Here are some visuals to assist the email.......

Ladies---if you've made it here but haven't checked email, go take a peek. More details are in the email :0)


Layer the backing/batting/quilt top so that 3" of excess remain on all sides.







Baste away using as many pins as humanly possible! *giggle* Okay....don't overkill, but my motto: "You can NEVER have too many basting pins!" It's better to over-baste than not baste enough. You don't want those layers to shift much during quilting, otherwise you'll find that you have tucks and puckers :0( Tip: Pin in the light areas because we will be quilting diagonal lines in the darks. BUT, having said that, I do have some pins in the darks where the quilting lines will not be.

Most people will say to mark the quilting lines BEFORE basting....*shrug*.....yeah, it's good advice, but I've marked after basting in the past, and I did so this time as well. We will be marking on Monday night----OOOOOOO! Bring your rotary rulers to use as a straight edge!!! I didn't think of that until just now. I'll bring the marking supplies.......

Once marked, you'll be ready to quilt away!








From start to finish tonight (BASTING AND QUILTING), it took just about two hours, so Monday night should REALLY bring on some amazing progress, bringing you VERY NEAR completion! Wooo-hooooo!




See you Monday!









Game plan tomorrow: Cut the shirts for the Seven Shirts & Seven Steps. A piecing step was posted last night, so I'm anxious to get started on it. DoubleDelights will just have to wait patiently.

Happy FRIDAY! Ymmm.....Happy "almost Saturday" (just turned 11:30 pm)

Now-n-Forever; DoubleDelight; Seven Shirts & Seven Steps

I added TWO new projects to my WIP list this past weekend.........


The first blocks for the Now-n-Forever that is being shared by Beth Ferrier as a BOM. I am bound to ONLY use my stash without purchasing any fabric.






I started digging through my shirt piles to find the requirements for Nancy's (Life is a Stitch) Seven Shirts & Seven Steps mystery. I'm so glad those shirts are finally finding a project, which is the MAIN reason I'm jumping on board with this mystery! In fact, that "grey" shirt still folded in the pic was just added to the pile last week when DH cleared his closet. I'm excited to see what this mystery will bring.


Finally, I did get Steps 1 & 2 pieced in the DoubleDelight mystery and am planning on taking them to tomorrow night's quilting class in hopes of trimming some of them down while the ladies are sewing on their bindings. I can honestly say I WISH I had some time to work on the DD this week---I would LOVE to have Angela's jaw drop when she returns from her vacation and see a near completed quilt top, but....that just isn't going to happen. I worked the BB game tonight; quilting class tomorrow night, another BB game Thursday night. Friday will be the first chance I have to get back into the sewing room.

Ah well....
Happy Tuesday!

Hold me back!!!

I think this is how UFO's come to be......toooo many awesome projects all come in view in such a little amount of time....

Nancy Singer over at Life is a Stitch invited us to join her in a Seven Shirts & Seven Clues mystery, and my interest was captured. *silly sigh*

So, after spending the day sewing away on DoubleDelight and completing Step 2 (no trimming yet), I spent an hour tonight digging into the shirts that have been stacking since last summer. At least they'll finally get into a project instead of just piling and piling.

So, I have pics to upload:
- First blocks of Beth Ferrier's BOM Now -n- Forever (BOM-NnF)
- Step 1 & Step 2 DoubleDelight blocks (DD)
- Fabrics for Nancy Singer's Seven Shirts & Seven Clues (SS&SC)

...but I'm off to bed right now. I'm beat!

Linda's top

Yeah Linda! One of my "students" emailed last night with a pic of her pieced top center. Her colors are beautiful; she purchased her fabrics through Connecting Threads. I can't wait until Wednesday for the next class! Thanks for sharing Linda.


I finally was motivated last night and headed downstairs at 6:00 pm. I dug into the stash for the Now-n-Forever BOM quilt; I'm doing it and have already completed the first block. It SHOULD be easy enough to complete this project since it goes until October, with each block coming out on the 14th.

I also plunged into step 1 of DoubleDelight and completed it by 10:30 pm, with only trimming remaining. I am losing interest in quilting my tops that are stacking up, but my piecing motivation has returned thanks to the DD.

I'm off......
Happy Monday

One thing lead to another.....

Yup---it really was one of those days.
Before I allowed myself to hit the quilting room, I tidied up the kitchen and threw a load of clothes in the laundry.

Then I headed downstairs to work on Chloe's Colors to wrap up the 24 blue/green blocks. I really don't know when those were accomplished.....the day really went by in one big whirlwind!

Around 10:30, the girls and myself were getting hungry, so we had some early lunch: Chili and Noodles-Alfredo (Cassie, nor Cailtyn are lovers of Chili). While lunch was cooking, I switched over the washer-load into the dryer and threw one last load of whites into the washer. I also was able to take care of writing up some bills, and sort through the tax-papers to get them ready for delivery to the accountant this week.

After lunch, I figured I might as well park my biscuits in the rocker with Paddington's Class Act while the girls relaxed with one of umteen hundreds of Barbie movies out there! I think this one was Fairytopia. I was done before the movie was over, so I took that opportunity to check into email and blogger, AND FACEBOOK! Yup----I took the plunge this week and have been accepting "freinds" ever since----the ol' classmates! It's been SO MUCH FUN finding old friends.

I headed back downstairs around 2:00, only after prepping some pork ribs for the oven. OH MAN-----they were SOOOO GOOOD for supper! DH also brought home some fresh fish that he fried up----DA-LISH!

Oh yeah.....once back downstairs, I found myself putzing to get myself ready for class tomorrow night. I needed to find some "sample fabrics" to take along to demonstrate hold to fold and cut fabric. So, brainstorming....I was trying to think of the next project I had in line so I could kill two birds with one stone. I must have had the craziest look on my face once I realized I didn't have ANY project lined up!!! Seriously! So, sifting through some papers, I found the printout for Double Delight, which I had completely taken off the radar screen. DUH! So, I pulled the fabrics out of the stash again; only better! I found a gem of a gold fabric hiding amongst the browns :0) I think I originally wanted to take the fabric to class tomorrow night to show cutting, right?!?!?!? ..............................

................. an hour later, I had MOST of the pieces cut for part 1. After supper, and getting the girls bathed, and tucked into bed with a story, I headed back downstairs to finish cutting out step 1. HAVE NO FEAR THOUGH----I was NOT able to actually piece any of them! :0) So, regarding tomorrow night, I just threw some plaid fabrics onto a pile that I can cut into 2.5" strips to add to my plaid drawer.


Once I was done cutting out the pieces (around 8:00), I really was ready to call it a night, but I had started piecing just a few 2.5" squares for the center section of Chloe's Colors. For some reason, I didn't like leaving them in the machine, so I figured I'd just finish pairing up my remaining squares......and really, one thing lead to another. By 9:00, I had pieced all 6 blocks. *shaking head* Yeah, sometimes I amaze myself, too, but I've found that I've really gotten quick when it comes to piecing. I suppose it's like that with anything after enough practice----you start to get better and smarter.

Finally, by 9:15, I was tidied up, have most of my supplies set aside to head to class tomorrow night.

I parked my butt to update, and then the phone rings. Nothing like getting some very sad news at 9:30 pm on a Sunday night! We have a "phone-tree" with the staff at our school, and I knew right away when I heard the voice on the phone that it had been activated (which ONLY happens when the news is bad.) One of our staff members (the lady's whose room I am using for the quilting class, in fact) had emergency surgery yesterday and is not fairing well. This is very sad news and will be very tragic for our school if things do not turn out well. She is the Senior class advisor, and is down-right loved by everyone. I don't typically ask for thoughts (or prayers), but.......your thoughts and prayers sure would be appreciated.

Happy Sunday.