Back in the saddle - new sewing spot along with some Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Four years since the last entry, which can certainly be considered a long time despite how quickly the passing of that time now seems.  "Life happens" is an old adage and perhaps too overused as a simple excuse of one's absence, however... life has certainly been happening.  All three girls have become young adults with the baby having just graduated last month. What I've missed most about blogging is having everything documented, and there'll be time for catching up, but let's first focus on the most recent changes and updates.

The girls' bedrooms haven't been taken over, BUT the loft area was cleared of most items and transformed into my sewing/crafting space.  Standing atop the staircase, the panoramic showcases most of the setup.  

In the process of clamoring two sets of staircases repeatedly these past few days, much of my focus has been the complete overhaul of purging of old fabrics and other items that simply haven't been touched or used quite honestly in over a decade (or two!) and organizing much of what remains.

 

I mean, some of these fabrics were inherited from my Aunt and Gma back in the 2000s when I began quilting.  Both of these fabrics were kept for certain, but there were definitely some I was finally ready to say see-ya to.  Shelf after shelf of partly organized and mostly scattered fabrics were unfolded, pressed, refolded and organized.  Then, this morning, these two completely-forgotten-about totes of gifted fabrics were dragged from their hiding spot underneath my quilting frame.  

Much of the day was yet again spent sifting, unfolding, pressing, unfolding, pressing, unfolding, refolding, and although I don't have shelves and shelves of fabric, I'm pretty tickled at how satisfying it is to have much of what I own now neatly tidied in one location.  The folding of the fabrics was like a riding a bike!  Bonnie K. Hunter's method is engrained forever!

After three full days of working on this new space, a little break was deserved.  I ventured into my blog land to see who all is still around going strong, and was not disappointed.  Angela (soscrappy) continues to be active with her Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  Nicely done!  This month's color:  blue, which I clearly have an abundance of, and even though today isn't Saturday, a few moments were enjoyed with some rather mindless piecing.

Tomorrow, I'll be back to work on the transition as there are still items that need attention in the basement area where my sewing room used to be, and I think another box of fabric is tucked away, hiding somewhere.  Eventually, catching up will occur.  Until then, little manageable chunks will suffice.

40% off -- can't say no to that

The trip with Linda to the quilt shop closing its doors was definitely a big success.  I really can't remember the last time I've purchased fabric, so..... the way I see it, I can justify this loot! ;)  

Eight yards of orange that'll be destined for backing on my Celtic Solstice

9 3/4 yards reserved for the backing of Hawaii Sunset

and all the rest.... stash.

Once home, I was feeling a bit drained, but I turned on Break Dawn, Part 2 as background noise and got busy piecing backing and batting for Berquist Beauty.  By the time the credits were rolling, the backing was pieced, batting pieced, backing/batting/top loaded on the frame, and the first path of quilting completed.  A bit over 2 hours just to prep the final stages for quilting.  Such a process.

Shipped goodies

My Hancock Fabrics order arrived today!!!  So much purdy stuff!  Can you believe that this is my first fabric purchase of the WHOLE YEAR?!?!??!?  {{I'm not counting the few yards I needed to purchase for the Diamond Fields border this summer)  I mean... this is my first actual "no-real-purpose-to-buy----just-want-to-buy-cuz-it's-purdy" purchase!  Definitely a record!!!  Mind you, those pink and green fabrics will be used in the Hawaii Sunset blocks.

And look what else was confirmed via email today!!!!!!

Wooo-hooooo!  I am keeping Wednesday night WIDE OPEN!

Also, after my whole "I didn't do any schoolwork all weekend" goal comment last night......
... my day today....was Just Fine.  AND my prep time allowed for me to get the next THREE days scheduled in.  So... I'm doing well on my "leave school-at-school" goal. :)

Rainbow scraps; With heart quilting; blue finds

This morning, I had to finish tidying up since there were scraps strewn all over the ironing and cutting boards from last night's cleaning. I was all set to work on yellow, but once the tidying and cutting and trimming was through, I really didn't have many yellow "scraps." I have some yellow fabrics, but no scraps, so I'll have to put yellow aside for now. Instead, I had a pile of oranges, browns and pinks, so those were made up.

The next few hours were used to prepare a backing for With Heart, loading it to the frame and almost half of the quilting has been completed.


Last night while sitting with my feet up, thumbing through my stack of quilting magazines, this pattern caught my eye. I knew I had some left over fabric from Hostess with Heart, so when I took a break from the quilting frame, I searched through my shelves to see what I had that could work. I am/was mostly set with all the farbics, but the blues were hard to come by in my stash. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to sift through another box of donations from my mother last summer (or was it the summer before???) Anyway, another box emptied and another partial box restacked, ready for re-donation (NOTHING quilt-worthy). However, a blue caught my eye, so I pulled it out, and LOOK!.....

All these pre-cut, pre-sewn pieces were folded up in the fabrics, all set to be made into some hour-glass blocks. I'll have to play with those later on.....

Time to prepare dinner; BBQ ribs have been cooking at 225 for the last three hours (the last hour with sauce) and milk-rice needs to be made (one of my favorite 'german' sidedishes).

Happy Saturday

Too many things to say 'em all in the title :0)

I began my day downstairs after lunch catching up on my QOV-Mysery: Dizzy. Step # 4....

and Step #5 - DONE :0)

I also wanted to work on the A Scrappy Picnic blocks some more today.

The "S" block took about 45 minutes...

and after 1.5 total hours today, both the 32-"S" and 32-"Z" blocks are ready to be pieced together. At this point, grand total = 5 hours.

My design wall was still covered with the Paintbox blocks, and I didn't want to just take 'em down without actually piecing them to make room for the A Scrappy Picnic blocks. And since the "random" choice seemed to be bringing in the most votes...off I went. I needed to cut up 2 yards of white to get the ball rolling (WHEW!!! I needed to burn some stash numbers this week---see why later in the post...)

...OOhhH! This was fun too! This is the "patch" that shows up on the back. Here I decided to use more of a chromatic layout. I need to give a HUGE thank you out to Carol - cornfield quilter because these fabrics were from a jelly roll she gifted me as part of the PIF of 2009. She sent them along with my Perkiomen Daydreams that she quilted. As IF that wasn't enough!!!!!

Cassie spent some time ironing today.

...AND some ripping. Yup, yup---there were two seams that were QUITE a bit off! (more like a 3/4" seam rather than a 1/4"). Even she agreed it needed to be resewn! :0)


Cassie has made it a bit further than just these 4-patches pictured. She is already sewing some rows together. She decided to make a book-bag to start. I think that's a GREAT idea! We hope to finish it up together tomorrow!!!!! In the end, I think she put in right around 5 hours on-n-off today. Very pleasing ;0)

Cailtyn and Candace grabbed the camera again while I was piecing away....
Caitlyn with Candace as photographer...

Candace with Caitlyn as photogragpher.


Yeah, Okay.....cute pose of Cailtyn, reaalllllly showing off the MESS that my make-shift sewing area is {{until my room gets finished}}. Mind you, this is also where the girls "hang-out" quite a lot while I'm sewing, hence, the puzzle pieces and other toys in the frontal part of the photo.

Today, my purchase from Thousandsofbolts.com arrived. THE ONLY reason I placed an order was because of my $10.00 gift certificate won by Lori's "Name her Machine" post. I didn't go TOO overboard, but definitely spent more than just the $10.00. ;0) I'll tell ya, though.....GREAT PRICES!!!!!!!! If you haven't been to this site, YOU REALLY NEED TO!!!!! Really!!!!!! These FQ's actually DO have a project already in mind. I wanted to make up some more of the Buckeye-Beauty blocks for a swap I'm involved in, and to build my own quilt a bit larger. The theme is "fall colors"---these fit nicely :0)

And remember the other day when I needed some red thread to finish quilting up the Olivia Quilts 4 Kids?...
I DID try to resist the "sale table," but these two were just chanting out to me! Seriously! And at $2.00/yard SALE PRICE, it didn't take much twisting of my arm. Oh...and get this. I finished off each bolt. They BOTH came to exactly 2 3/8 yards. So...does a "Fate of Fabrics" exist out there? Maybe these two were destined to be together! They look nice next to each other....yeah...maybe I'll need to keep my eye out for a two-fabric design. Or maybe a third....a nice soft yellow? cream?....

And so, here I end my evening, updating and enjoying a drink. I haven't had an Amaretto-Sour in quite awhile, but it sure is tasting yummy!

And I couldn't resist, {{even though the girls are in their skimpies! Don't report me, okay???}}. This image doesn't happen all that often. It's almost 10:51, and they are still watching the movie right in front of my ottoman. ..... Actually, I just glanced down and Candace has finally given up the fight. She's out. Cassie is still going strong and Cailtyn was just sharing a biiiiggg yawn.

So, I'm off to see how everyone else spent their day :0)

OH!! I almost forgot! I EVEN got into the garden tonight for a couple of hours before the rain came (AGAIN!) One nice thing about this consistent rain over the past 3 weeks----I don't need to WATER the garden!

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.

Taking things for granted....

HA! Laurel's comment in the last post made me realize that we sometimes takes things we share for granted.....

No Laurel, I am not a size 16W or 20W; I have been fortunate enough to still keep much of my athleticism from my youth and remain to be a runner and volleyball player, and active with my children. Therefore, I remain right around a "proud" size 5-7.

The capris were only seen as CHEAP FABRIC in my eyes.....nothing more.

As for plans with them.....cut 'em up, strip 'em down, and fold into the stash. :0)
I also came across some Plus size christmas shirts that are 100% cotton, also only ONE DOLLAR! There was still a good selection so I grabbed the largest sizes; they are still in the Walmart bag (from a couple of weeks ago). I think they were XXXL! LOTS of fabric!



On another note, also related to the blog title regards a statement President Obama made yesterday when rationalizing to the American people about his proposed budget.... it was close to....'Sometimes you can redecorate your house and sometimes you can't. If they money isn't available, you have to make your priorities....'
Well, at school, I have been writing a Smart Board Purchase request along with our school's Media Specialist. Our Superintendent quoted us a budget amount to use in addition to a few other sources of funds. In the end, she and I submitted our request with a final note of "$200 extra dollars being requested" with the rationale that one more complete setup could be purchased for the Elementary school. When I spoke with him unofficially in the hall with the request, his remark was "when is enough enough??", but then proceeded to grin and nod, being fairly confident the extra funds could be found. BUT, his comment DID get me thinking, and when I heard Obama's comment, I put it all together, and really sat and thought about a DIFFERENT solution that would keep us within the original budget. Outcome: she and I are still trying to be creative by seeking out some used Smart Board stands......but.....the bottom line: we all take things for granted. How many of us take our spouse for granted? I for one KNOW there are too many times when I take DH for granted! I "get on his case" when things don't go my way (part of being the 3rd "spoiled" child & the baby of the family, I think). But yet....he does SO MUCH for me and I don't always give him the recognition he needs.

At school: there are many of my coworkers that belly-ache, but I found myself as one of "those teachers" yesterday with the request of additional funds. My superintendent was right to say: "when is enough enough?"

So, what do YOU take for granted?


(wow---this post went off on a tangent)

The weekend is over...

Well folkies, after a short snooze with the girls, I spent some time browsing through Bonnie's site in search of a pattern for my Dad's retirement quilt that my mom has requested. I'm liking the "Fun with Bricks" pattern the best, with "Chunky Churndash" second in line.

I've been working on another of her patterns: "Oklahoma Crossroads" and I layed it out today to see how it was looking so far. I figured I could give that to my Dad, but....eh......there's something about it that doesn't fit him. But the "Fun with Bricks' layed out with the diagonal pattern seems to fit. I'm already thinking of a name...."The path of Retirement"....not sure yet.




The ironing is on hold! When I need some fabric, I'll iron it. Otherwise it's just going to sit until I feel in the mood again.
Poop! I wanted to take a picture of some fabric I came across today in the stash that might be a great border fabric for the CC I'm making.

But I did come across two other fabrics that wouldn't be my first choice when out shopping, but I kinda like em!
First of all, this strawberry pattern is screaming to be made into a "Strawberry Shortcake" quilt. Gonna keep my eye out for the perfect pattern...

Also, this rose pattern is SO PRETTY and ELEGANT! It doesn't fit in my house, but.....??? It'll be one of those fabrics that'll sit until that PERFECT MOMENT!







So anyway.....tonight, I finally got back to working on the CC. I started cutting a few more strips of Browns and Greens for part 3 around 6:00pm.
Candace fell asleep on her Dora couch, so Cassie and Catilyn joined me downstairs, plopped a movie in and relaxed after their baths. Meanwhile, I was sewing the strips together into the 3-grouping sets. At 8:00, I shushed them off to bed, read them a story, and then came back downstairs to sew some strips together.

Once I had the strips sewn and cut, I figured----DONE for the night. But..hmmm...it's only 8:50...it shouldn't take that long to sew them together, right??? So, off I went.
30 minutes later, I had only sewn 2 sets of 3-patches together. I wasn't about ready to put another 30 minutes in tonight to finish them up. SO, they will await until tomorrow to get the final pieces together for step three.

It was eerie downstairs tonight, alone. DH is gone for the weekend, fishing with buddies. So after I put the girls to bed and went back downstairs, I didn't turn the radio or TV on. I wanted to hear the girls if they needed me. It gave me time to hear my thoughts....and my first thoughts were..."What am I going to call this quilt? Am I just going to keep it Carolina Crossroads? Should I use the graphic Phyl shared with the group? What if my quilt is found in an antique shop 75 years from now---whoa...that would be weird! If that label is on there, it might be a Collector's item....wow...I wonder if anyone else has thought about that....?"

Then my thoughts moved to --- "Hmm...this would be a great gift to my mom for Mother's Day. Okay....that's about 4 weeks away...that should be enough time to finish this and quilt it. Ooo...but then will I have enough time to make Dad's quilt before his party the first weekend of June?...oh dear...."

I can't express through the right words what joining this group has done for me. I read the posts daily, respond personally to some, but learn so much! The links being shared are great!