Progress, progress on UFO's

No OC tonight! I'm still only 30 blocks into OC#2, but, I figured----"eh....the pieces are all cut and bagged, so they'll be easy to transport to dear ol' 'Mom's,'" so I'll finish them up when I visit Thursday-Saturday.

So instead---it was a night of UFO's!!! First on the list, which WON'T be a UFO for long, is the Oklahoma Backroads (OB). (Yet another Bonnie pattern). I have decided to make this for my Dad for his retirement. It only makes sense (to me). I have to complete it in three weeks, so do I realllllly want to start something from scratch??!?!? Hmmmmmm....NO! So......I added 6 blocks tonight. I'm thinking 8 more blocks will finish it off, in addition to some borders. It'll be a perfect "lap-snuggler" quilt for all his daily naps!!!!

The "cool" thing about this pattern, is that I can create 2" Half-Triangle "off-shoots." So, after I ran out of 2.5x4.5 bricks for the OB, I figured....."hmmmm...it'd be a good time to square up the 1/2 triangles." Then, naturally, once they were square, I played with possible layouts....oooooo...the wheels are turning!

Then I pulled out my "Leaders-enders" box and pieced some of them into 4-blocks. A nice collection so far.........GOSH! I love what Bonnie has done to me!!!






Oohhhhh....and that makes me think about these Crumb Blocks. HA! Before December, these little pieces would have been in the trash, but not now. I "played" tonight with some of the scrappy crumbs I had from OC#1. I pieced this lower "wonky" 16 block. Then I took some scraps from my Kaleidoscope quilt and pieced the other crumb block in the picture.

Speaking of Kaleidoscope, I pulled those out tonight and squared them up. They are a bit smaller than the pattern needs them to be, but at least they are all the same!!! 9.25x9.25". I'll probably keep this to a crib size, or at least a small twin for my youngest.

Next.....this "Rolling Rock" block has been sitting half-complete for a couple of months, so I decided to attempt to complete it. Whew.....it HAS earned the "three thimble" rating! Yikes! I'm amazed it turned out as well as it did. My M-I-L had a wonderful idea of using a Yo-Yo as the center of the blocks! NEAT! I've never made a Yo-Yo, but it'll be a great opportunity to learn something from my MIL.

FInally, I didn't do any work on "Grandma's State" quilt, but I wanted to bring out all my UFO's and see the status of each. This....ooo....THIS is the MONSTER! Last summer, sure...I "inherited" all of Grandma's fabric stash and other quilting supplies. BUT, thats' ONLY because I helped my parents clean out her apartment and get things ready for auction. These "gems" was lurking in her quilting area. Who KNOWS how long they have been sitting???!?!? Then, the day after I came across the blocks, I found the BOOKS!!! All of these blocks are "State Patterns" from the Workbasket magainzes from the 80's. Grandma had finished 8 of the blocks, and I have completed 8 so far. They are a bit challenging because of how the patterns/directions are explained. The last block I worked on was in early January, and pictured here! It's my FAVORITE so far!!! The pink "flowered" pattern is actually cut from one of Grandma's shirt. This block ALONE took me about 12 "clock hours" from start to finish!

Soooo....that's it! I do believe this is ALLLL of my UFO's sitting around......
Ooooo....nope! Forgot about "Deer Camp," but I'll save that for another evening. I'm done with the top of that one; just need to sandwich and quilt away!!!


Happy Sewing!!!

Complete opposite of yesterday :0)

For how "icky" yesterday was, today was smooth sailing.....
*knock on wood*

I knew I needed to be Motivated, On-track, and use my time wisely during my Prep time for school. EVERYTHING on my checklist was completed, and then some.... (I had an unexpected 10 minutes "meeting" with the District Office, and I had two students from my Algebra class begging for some assistance with a System of Equations problem.)

Then----as soon as I arrived home (~4:15 pm), I first tackled folding two loads of clothes (one that was pulled out of my dryer on the way out the door this morning, and the one that dried while I was off to work). Plus, I've washed, dried, and folded two additional loads since then. The last load is in the dryer as I type :0)

Next, while dinner was cooking in the oven (sorry folks, nothing fancy tonight! Just a classic "all-American" frozen pepperoni pizza), I packed up all the girls' clothes and set the bags aside. At the same time (sorta), I packed up a couple of boxes of "no-longer-fitting" 2T's and 24 mnths clothes to be "handed down" to my husband's cousin. They have the cutest little girl!!! So, I have THREE boxes put together to give to them this weekend while I'm down "home." (Both DH and myself grew up in the same city, so most of our family members are still in the "home" area.)

And again, kinda at the same time, the entry way (where I was stashing all the boxes to be packed into the car tomorrow), was a disaster----dirty, dirty, dirty! So, I swept out a corner, started piling up the girls' bags and boxes of clothes, continued sweeping, shaking out the rugs (OMG!!!! Talking about DIRT!!!), cleared out the Winter boots and carried them downstairs, and "Swiffered" the floor. So.....YEAH! I'm packed, stacked neatly, reading to be packed in the car....AND, the Entry way is clean!!!

And what's even better......it's ONLY 6:30!!! I still have a whole night ahead to quilt!!!!!

So---I have intentions of tuning in later with a "quilting" update!

CC All done, but no label

The quilt is done, already packed away and wrapped to be gifted to my mother a weekend early for Mother's Day. The gas prices have finally hit home and have pushed us to alter our travelling plans. Since I am heading "home" this weekend, we have decided NOT to travel "home" again for Mother's Day.

Pictured here is the back, pieced by two different shades of pink flannels. I putzed around with the Fabric Printer Sheets since I haven't been able to hunt down any Bubble Jet Set. I'm frustrated! NOT because I can't find BJS, but I'm frustrated because the printer sheets just aren't working for me.....*sigh*.....I printed.....I waited 4 hours to "dry".....I ironed......I rinsed......*sigh*......and most of the ink washed away......
With the day I've had....I'm just throwing my hands up in the air and then forming a big "W" on my forehead for..."WHATEVER!" As you can see, the quilting was a simple geometric grid, with a little hand-quilted heart.







Not to "vent," but I just can't shake the ickyness of this day----and it's ONLY Monday! I'm a bit stressed this week due to my schedule. I had a 3 hour meeting today (12:15-3:30) for Curriculum Council, which I Co-Chair. Rather frustrating meeting today with many loose-ends hanging when the time chimed 3:30. *sigh* Because of the time of the meeting, I was not able to have my "prep" time to grade papers, write a quiz for tomorrow, etc. No biggy, IF the rest of the week wasn't so chaotic either! Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the only normal day for me this week. AND, it's the only day where I will actually have a "prep". Wednesday, we have a Teacher Inservice/Early Release day for students, so once again, no "prep." (My Prep time is 1:30 - 2:30). This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to get things ready for a substitute on Thursday AND Friday. (My state Math convention is this week.)
So........my "to-do" list tomorrow during my only prep this week:

• plan Thursday's schedules for Web Design, Math 8 and Algebra 8
  
• plan Friday's schedules for Web Design, Math 8 and Algebra 8
  
• Write HW Quiz for Algebra 8 (and maybe Math 8???)
  
• Create a Graph Handout for Math 8
  
• Plan for Monday's schedule (so that I'm not "winging" it when I come back next week!!!)
  
• Write last minute PO's to purchase calculators: deadline this Friday----oh yeah...which, by the way, we JUST were told today via email from our Superintendent
  
• prepare documents for IEP meeting after school
  

Other "to-do's" tomorrow

• Pack clothes for all three girls---to include outfits for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday??? (We might come home Saturday
  
• Print directions to Math Convention site
  
• all the other "mother" things we do everyday.....ya know..
  
  
  
  • laundry (specially since I won't be home until later this weekend)
    
  • dishes (god BLESS the inventor of the Dishwasher!)
    
  • pick up the house (because I HATE coming home to a dirty house after being gone)
    
  
  

Okay, I guess after listing out everything, things aren't completely as bad as they seem. But......it's just been a rough day!

Come ON already !!!((*&@^(*&^

Please, please please, please, please, please..............NO MORE SNOW!!!!!!!!
This was the "lovely" picture we woke up to today.......I am so TIRED of snow!!




Okay, now the NEXT frustration to get off my chest...!!!!!!
I put my "sandwich" together last night and started to quilt. I followed the suggestion of Amanda, and I decided on a simple meander.
*sigh*
Well folks....read on.....an LEARN from my mistake......
An hour and half into quilting, I decided to take the quilt out of the machine to see how equally spaced the meanders were. The top was about half complete, and looking okay. UNTIL............. I looked at the back!!!
My
Heart
Dropped!!!!!!!

Terrible!!!!!!!! My tension must be SO FAR OFF! The back looked terrible-----I can't even describe what it looked it----just.....BAD! No "nice, even" stitches, but rather.....loops coming from the "top thread", and ......GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
I sat for 5 minutes, wondering if there was ANY other option than pulling out the stitches......but..........*sigh*.

So, after a 10 minute break AWAY from the quilt (because I was so MAD!), I grapped the ripper.
The only good news about this situation-----it was rather EASY and QUICK to pull out most of the stitches because they were so loose! BUT STILL......I started "unsewing" at 7:00 pm, and pulled the last stitch at 12:13 am!! Non-stop!

So, here I sit, saturday morning, with the quilt sandwiched directly in front of me, WITHOUT a single stitch of quilting!!!!!!
AND, I have NO INTENTION of figuring out my tension problem right now. I don't have the patience.

So, Angela (soscrappy), I am going to follow your idea of a grid-line form of quilting. I really want to finish it this weekend!!! I don't know exactly if I'll be able to . We are supposed to go to the cabin today; in fact, we should already be on the road, but this weather is delaying us from making a solid decision.

*sigh*

TADA! The top is done

It's done! It's done! It's done!

For THAT, I'm happy.....

BUT.....

*sigh*.....NOW I'm hitting a road-block on how to quilt it. I seriously stood for 30 minutes...looking at the top quilt, moving around it to different view points, tried to picture different designs inside the blocks, around the blocks....should it be circular? or perhaps a simple meander? do I have the skill for a baptist fan?

AGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So, if any of you have ANY ideas, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave me a suggestion in the comments???...???....????

Here's a close up of the center, which I also used as the image on the label..

OH! WHICH, by the way, was done by using a piece of white fabric, IRONED to freezer-paper, and then......GET THIS-----Sent THROUGH my printer!.......BRILLIANT!!!!!!! I can't believe I never thought of doing that!!! There's NO POINT to investing money in the fabric sheets!!! This was an idea shared by someone from the QuiltvilleChat group......what awesome ideas that come thru the group!

A little more progress....

No pictures tonight, and I was only to put another hour into the CC. I pieced a few more rows together---I think I only have three more.

But, seriously, I must have stood for TEN MINUTES and stared at the layout-----eyes skimming over the rows----picking out some "exciting" areas----contemplating what color(s) to use as a border----what a perfect backing would be.....

THAT was a fun 10 minutes!!!!

Oh, Oh, OH!!!! And then I brainstormed about what I should use for quilting------to really ATTEMPT the infamous Baptist Fan on it, or to stay with a simple meander????----perhaps more of a swirl??......

Anyway...it's getting late, but I want to stop by a few blogs before logging off.

I hope to have the entire top pieced tomorrow evening :0)

BUKU Progress!!!

Direct Translation: BUKU=SUPER LOTS!!

Last night, I DID go back to work as promised, but only for another half-hour. 8 hours of quilting all day deemed enough. I was getting tired. So at 6:00, I sat back, read LOTS *like....all!* of the Blogs in the Mystery Quilt Ring, while watching "Kong."

This morning, I was back downstairs by 7:30 am. I finished up the OHIO blocks of Part 6 around 10:00, only to get about 10 minutes into the second block - "HALF STARS" - when....ummmmmm......the directions confused me!!




Her picture (which I use dearly!!!) showed contradicting information! On the "pre-sewn" image, her bottom row of hour-glass blocks show her reds going verticle, BUT on her final sewn block picture, her reds are going horizontal. ........So...up to the Chatgroup I went.



In the meantime, I took this as an opportunity to complete a few of the OC#2 blocks. I was able to whip out 30 in no time. I am at a stand-still now until I cut some more light triangles.


20 minutes after my post, Linda came to my rescue with information about the correct placement!

Around noon (I think), I was able to complete all of CC#6. Wooo-hooo....this quilt MAY just get done lickity-split!






After a little lunch break, I came upstairs to print out the FINAL CLUE! Yeah. Whew------it was a doosey piecing the final block together. It took me all afternoon, actually!! But....done!

And then.....the moment I've been waiting for!!!

THE LAYOUT!!!!



It DEFINITELY looks scrappy! But, I love it!!! I snapped a picture super-quick to come up right away to upload it. However, DH was on the computer, so I went back downstairs to start piecing the strips together.

I completed (sorta) the bottom right three diagonals. Oh deary-me! Do you see my boo-boo in the picture?!?!?!?? (I know it's difficult to see because of the carpet color). I guess a mistake was going to happen sooner or later! JEESH!!!! I think it's quitting time, ya think! I'm not in the mood for the seam ripper right now!!!

Ahhh...lots of progress!

It's almost 3:30, and I'm taking a small break.

The first progress of the morning was to try out the OC#2 block. A few people from the chatgroup were writing in that difficulties were arising, so.....rather than cut out ALL the light strips, I wanted to be sure I could handle the block without difficulty. I dug into my 2" square stash and pulled a couple of squares, grabbed a handful of light triangles, and a couple of dark triangles, and ................
.....v'iola! Not a problem!!!!


So, I set those aside------I WANTED to continue, but....I made a goal that today I would tackle as much of the CC as possible. So...off I went, back to the CC. I already had all the pieces cut to finish up part 4. YIKES! It still looked daughnting with all those teeeny-tiny triangles. But....after only 2 hours, I was done. WOW! That went pretty smooth!

I already had CC#5 printed out, so......on I went. I was glad to see I was able to dig back into my Pink stash. It's unfortuate that we needed to use 2" strips instead of 1.5" strips though! I really went overboard with Part#1 and cut TONS of 1.5" strips. I guess I'll need to peek at Bonnie's site for a pattern that'll burn up those strips.
Anyway....It took me some time to cut up some 2" strips from both my pinks and browns. However, within an hour I was cutting them into triangle pieces using the Companion Ruler. What a GREAT TOOL! And, rather than cutting ALL 200 triangle sets out to then be sewed; I sewed as I cut. I would cut one strip set, which usually led to 6-11 pairs, which I then took right to my sewing machine to piece. And, as Bonnie always says, I had quite a nice "MILE OF CHAINS" behind my machine.

Ironing isn't my favorite, but I didn't mind seeing the pieces come together. In fact, I never used to iron and would OFTEN be diappointed in the blocks I was producing. Well, DUH AMY, the seams never came together right; when I finally would iron, I would often have 'buldges' because the piecing just wasn't accuate! I am now a full-fledged IRONER!!!

So, right around 3:00, I was done with CC#5. (See all those little dog-ear pieces that were cut from the blocks! I WILL eventually start tossing those into old pillowcases as was suggested on the chatgroup. In fact, I'm thinking of sewing together some smaller pillowcases using fabric from my stash and make my own pillow forms using my tiny scrap throw-aways! The smallest pieces I keep now are 1" squares/strips.)

I am now taking a small break; updating the blog, checking email, resting my back and shoulders, kickin' back with some ice-water and relaxing. However, the main reason I'm on the computer is I need to print out CC#6. YEAH! Bonnie eluded to the fact that #6 starts putting all the pieces together.

So, once again, I'm off and sewin. In a few more hours, I am plannin on showing the progress.
Later.