Very observant Linda & Candace :0)

Yes ladies---you both guessed correctly. Those pieces are for the Ohio Star block.

Linda, you even took it to the next level by searching through the exact book I listed....
{{for those of you with the book, I snuck another hint to Linda by saying the other two blocks for May are shown on the very first page of patterns}} ;0)

The Ohio Star block we will be creating is what **I** know as the traditional Ohio Star....


But here's a tidbit of information....Do a GOOGLE of "Ohio Star," and you'll see pics of this type of Ohio Star as well (which is the Ohio Star listed in Maggie Malone's book)


Then again, you could always have some fun with a variation of the traditional Ohio Star block as well.....

That one actually looks kinda fun....

Anyway---hmm...it's 7:10; almost time to shoosh the girls off to bed. Then......quilting??? Hmmm...I suppose I could try to tackle another Hannah's Rotation block ((crinkling nose)). Hmmm....I dunno.....it IS a "Castle" night at 9:00.....
Okay---for those of you who watch the show.....who is that blonde in the picture?!?!??????? I have NO idea and don't remember seeing her.

OH!!!! AND!!!!!!............
UPS.com is showing my package in the southern part of the state. It should be arriving safely tomorrow!!!!! And DH will be home with the day off, so....PERFECT!!!!!
{{I told him NOT to start putting it together}}! LOL

Quilting is an art----{{am I'm NO artist!!!}}

You have my permission to crinkle your nose, shake your head, or even giggle (which is what I'm doing)

I was tired of piecing with the Bernina---so tired....
so, I plugged in the Juki and played.
HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's FAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTT! I only played with her quilting-wise last week, but tonight, I tried piecing with her. HOLY BUCKETS! Now I guess I know what 1500 stitches-per-minute mean! I wonder what the Bernina does. {{no where NEAR 1500! That's for sure!}}

Well, I needed another bag-holder-stuffer thing: {{Moda Grocery Bag dispenser pattern}} So, I pulled out some blah-blah fabrics and speed-pieced this thing!

Then I played with the quilting...
I have been watching LOTS and LOTS of Youtube videos, waiting patiently for the blessed delivery of the GMQ-PRO (Tuesday is getting closer!!!) Anyway....I tinkered.....

...ummmmmm....yeah......feathers look A LOT easier to make than what they actually are......

....But I guess if there is ONE piece of advice that I WILL NOT {{NOT, NOT, NOT}} FORGET.....

Quilting is like writing.....

Look at a Kindergartner's writing vs. a Senior in high school (or even a 3rd grader)....

It takes practice for it to become 2nd nature and looking good....

So.....tonight was fun....
but ....


...definitely NOT pretty! :0)

Happy Sunday Night!

BOM guess? Jade's Hearts & Hannah's Rotation; Stash Report 4/12 - 4/18

May is right around the corner, so I spent the morning today piecing together and taking pics of the three May BOM's. All of the blocks come from Maggie Malone's book...
{{see that green $1.00 price tag??? LOVELY garage sale find!!!!}} ...I'll share more information (copyright, etc) once the May blocks are posted. ALL of the May blocks are easy-peasy :0) Whew......(only one is kinda putzy)

Wanna play a guessing game?...
...These are the pieces for one of the May blocks. Dare to take a gander at what the block is??? [[4 white squares, 1 blue square, and 8 each of red and white QST's]]

I also laid out the blocks from January - April...
...(I snapped a pic of the progress from January - May too, but I can't give away the guessing game) ;0)

Hannah's Rotation saw some machine time today after being guilted into it this past week. I informed Hannah that I realllly didn't know if this quilt was going to get finished in time, but she looked at me and said..."do you know how long it took me to color that?" **sigh** She's right! She put the time in to create a beautiful design---I can put the time in to make it come to life. I have decided to move it to the Leader-Ender task---these blocks are soooo putzy! I have another full month before I need to worry about having the top pieced in order for me to have time to quilt it before the "big reveal" at the end of May. The good news: because of the rotational symmetry, I'm making two blocks at a time, both identical to each other. So, even though it only looks like 6 blocks are pictured, there are actually 12.

Jade's Hearts also saw some progress. The quilt is half complete, but these "heart" units are going to take some time because of all the pieces. I've decided to complete them one row at a time...
...the top row of the 9 remaining blocks are currently chained under the foot right now.

As bad as I wanted to burn through some border fabric of Steppin' Out, Pineapple Blossom, American Classic and Shades of Green to make this week's Stash Report look better, it simply didn't happen. Oh well----next week???

Stash Report: April 12 - April 18
Used this week: 5.916 yards
Purchased this week: 27.5 yards (mostly border fabrics)
Used-to-date 2010: 103.272 yards
Purchased-to-date 2010: 113.75 yards
Net used: -10.478 yards
{{uh-oh! Back in the red}}

Happy Sunday!

Sat. morning update...

First----Paul caught me "studying" online the other night and snapped a picture. I didn't even realize it until I uploaded pics to the computer.... Anyone dare to guess what I was "studying" on YouTube??? ;0)

Last night, I pulled out my Shades of Green top that was started LAST March! I had intentions of finishing it by quilting it in sections, but .... well....now that I'll have a frame (how far away is TUESDAY!?!?!?!), I pulled out the three sections and started piecing them together.
I needed to halt when getting to the borders, because I didn't have my original-planned border fabric anymore, so I needed to go shopping. {{yeah, Helper-Caitlyn couldn't resist posing}}


Since I needed fabrics for Black/Red Pineapple Blossoms and Steppin' Out and American Classic, and now Shades of Green, it was time to go shopping!!!

I choose THREE fabrics to use as a triple border for Shades of Green, bought some red for Pineapple Blossoms, some different "starry" red for American Classic,, an AMAZING fosil-fern (sp??) fabric for Steppin' Out, and OF COURSE....a few odds-n-ends in the form of FQ's ("shirtings" and some red/blues for the BOM). I also picked up some lovely double-pinks and pink paisley, in addition to a blue (reminds me of civil wars, but not quite sure since I've never really researched them)....And to finish it off, 10 yards of white (not pictured). I just LOVE LOVE LOVE quilts that use white in the background-----ANY color matches!

The only sewing I've accomplished so far is so put together a pillow for Cassie's horse latch-hook that she finished up last weekend. Simple pleasures..........she hasn't stopped hugging it.

So---we've had an early lunch and I'm back off to downstairs.
The house is a mess
Laundry is piled
Dishes are piled....

{{shrug}}
I sense a huge multi-task frenzy......but not now.

Maybe tomorrow?????
;0)

A quilt-TOP-in-a-day {{almost}}; Stash Report

The day started rather normal; browse around internet to catch up on blogs.....
And seeing Alycia's blog update this morning, I was {{sorta}} guilted motivated into digging into my box of 2" red/blue/white strips I've been collecting for the past couple of months. Afterall, I DID have a goal in JANUARY to get a top/quilt made for Alycia's No Soldier Forgotten 2010 challenge. Almost eight hours later---a top {{minus one more little border}}. I need it just a wee bit larger; currently it's 56"x76". Name: American Classic

Update from yesterday... Steppin' Out rows were sewn together and now awaits a shopping spree; I simply don't have ANYTHING in my stash that is batik-ish enough to use for borders.

I kind of looked around the sewing space to see what to work on next. TRUST ME---I have plenty of projects lying around....

I pulled out Deer Camp {{which, BTW, was finished last month and will await my frame for quilting}}. I dug around to see if I had some appropriate fabric to use as a backing. Lo-n-behold, I found JUUUUUST enough of this brown to use {{see it hiding behind the top???}} It will be tight!!! There's barely 1-2" hang-over on each side, 'cept the top.

Mid-day yesterday, Cassie came marching down the stairs and said "here ya go Mom! Surprise!" I guess she had drawn up a "plan" for a chair and asked Dad if he would be willing to help her make it. Graciously, he did. And as in most designs, plans were altered; the back-rest was left off; the chair seat was prettily "sculpted". And of course, as any proud mama, I accepted it with hugs. I'm actually thinking of doing a simply upholstering to it for the girls to have a little "bench: to sit on when hanging downstairs with me. I actually considered using it as a little pressing table for next to my sewing table, but it's just too short :0(

I did not report my stash last week {{yet again!}}, so I'll report both weeks right now...
Stash Report: March 29 - April 4
Used this week: 2.431 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Used-to-date 2010: 89.512 yards
Purchased-to-date 2010: 86.25 yards
Net used: 3.262 yards

Stash Report: April 5 - 11
Used this week: 7.844 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Used-to-date 2010: 97.356 yards
Purchased-to-date 2010: 86.25 yards
Net used: 11.106 yards

WIP and UFO morning

I need floor space-----

therefore, the Black/Red Pineapple Blossom, which is taking up ALL my floor space, needed my attention this morning
Some of us have admitted to NOT being "border people." I typically place myself in that category, but... this border just seemed to keep evolving and I kept adding another piece and another strip.....
The quilt top is too large to really get a good shot from my sewing area.....it's NOT completely done, but will have to be set aside until I find time to get to town and buy some black fabric for the final "put-the-finishing-touch-on" border.

And you'll notice---it's all sewn together----not in pieces! I will NOT be quilting this in sections----I'm still very much looking forward to the arrival of my quilting frame and keeping myself busy until the final blessed day arrives.


Then my Steppin' Out - dyed came to the forefront----why? Because I need shelf space too!!! These blocks have kept the dust off my shelf for the past year; it's about time they see some action...
My 16-patch blocks were pieced this morning; the "arrow" blocks were already complete from awhile ago...

As I began laying out blocks, I sadly realized-----"POOP! I made a mistake!!!"
My directions say I need 18 of these "diagonal" half-blocks, all the same.

NOPE!!!!!



I need 9 each of these "MIRROR IMAGE DIAGONAL" blocks. After a few moments of seam-ripping and resewing, back to the layout I went. Sometime later today I'll have to update my tutorial, fixing this mistake!!!

Two rows have been sewn, then I needed to take a break to get lunch ready....pizza buzzer just dinged. Lunch is ready------I'll update later on tonight....

Excited, confused, frustration, excited, disappointed, satisfied, frustrated, excited again

In that exact order

{{Excited}}
All day yesterday, waiting for that lovely brown UPS truck to arrive. At 5:34 p.m., it rolled into the driveway, and I couldn't contain myself. "Honey, honey, honey--go see if he needs help--I don't know how many boxes there will be; I don't know how heavy they will be--go help, okay?"


{{Confused}}
DH was back in the house in seconds, carrying ONE box---"so, is this it?" he asks.
My look was probably priceless-----
WHAT!??!!?!?!?!?!? One box?!?!?!!?!??
Me: "Are you kidding?!?!? You're kidding, right? You just left the other boxes outside, right???"
Him: "No honey, really...this is the only box....see, the slip says '1 of 1'"

{{Frustration}}
Cell phone lines AND internet were in chaos, so there was no way to try to sort things out and check online to see 'what happened.'

{{Excited--for the time being}}
The box that DID arrive was the Juki, so I started unpacking it, setting it up, reading the manual cover-to-cover...
...and tried her out. She makes a GREAT FMQ stitch!!!!!!

{{Disappointed}}
An hour later, internet was working again, so I dug a little bit to find out "what happened."
I will admit to being impulsive at times. When I logged into the sewingmachinesplus.com site (for the first time) and saw "GMQ Pro frame - drop shipment ordered"----I panicked!!!!
WHAT?!?!?! THe shipment was dropped!!??!!?!? What......now what...?!?!?!
And I emailed the company.....

{{Satisfied}}
Knowing that I had contacted the company, I didn't want the night to completely be a wash, so I sadly sat in front of the Bernina, WISHING I actually had a frame to put together, but......decided to at least finish up a few things hanging over my head...
Carolina Christmas blocks that have been leader-ender projects were moved to the main project and were completed....

tidied up the 4-patch leader-ender box that had been collecting over the past year or so (130 of them)...

And whipped together (yes, WHIPPPED) together another Quilts 4 Kids (disappearing Nine-patch). I wanted a small project as the first project to be accomplished on the quilting frame. I figured having one to donate at the same time was a great use of fabric ;0)
A close up of the orange fabric----I emptied the bolt from the shop back in January; I just LOVE it.
SO---quilt name????? "Leapin' Lizards" "Chameleon Colors" ???? What do you have in mind?

{{frustrated}}


I

HATE

DEER!!!!!!!!

Remember back in December??? (hubby hitting deer).....
**sigh**
We seriously have only had the car back for a couple of months--------the insurance company is going to wonder if we have a salt-lick mounted on our grill!!!!

Thankfully, DH was home today and was able to call insurance and get that ball rolling again. Gosh---I wonder if alligators cause the same damage??? Angela, maybe we'll move to Florida!!!

{{Excited again}}
The day ended on a some-what positive note.
I heard back from Sewingmachinesplus.com...

Dear Amy,

No worries girl! The GMQ Pro, Quilt Cad and Grace Speed Control all come from the manufacturer to you. These are referred to as ‘Drop Shipped’, and I think that is your confusion. We should receive tracking information in the next day or so, and you will expect the items delivered right to you!

So, whew!!!!! It's SOMEWHERE, I just don't know where nor know when it'll be delivered :0(
So, I am NOT-so-patiently awaiting the delivery of the frame...

**sigh**

At least tomorrow is Friday...

Making room...

I HAVE been around; living life; sewing when I can; and researching a LOT this past week (more to come on THIS soon)...

So, yesterday morning, I looked at this mess of boxes...


and this mess of strip scraps that have been collecting for two years!......


and this hap-hazzard area of "quilt-layout"... (GOSH! I have piles of fabric all over the place!!!).....


and CLEANED--LIFTED--MOVED--SNEEZED (at the dust)--VACUUMED UP MOUSE "stuff"--EWWWWWWW--SWATTED AWAY SPIDERS--UGHHHHHH......

All at the same time, I emptied this (my former sewing room)...


and moved into my main basement area...
This is the same area that had the mess of boxes in the first picture...now with a "curtain" backdrop

Same area as the "quilt-layout" pictured above--SOON to be enhanced by a 4-piece matching desk/table combo being inherited by my parents...


Sadly, I STILL have boxes of fabric to sort through (SOME DAY), but at least they are organized now into nicer looking piles.

I don't have any permanent carpet installed on the floors; all of my carpets are left-over "scraps" from installing in other parts of the finished house. The old sewing room in now carpet-free with one hope: To have a "finished" room by mid-summer! Until then, I will sew in the main area of the basement and use my "sewing room" as the quilt-layout area.

Pictured here is the same area as the collected-strip-scraps above. The two bins pictured have since been moved, and you'll notice my lovely green "outdoor-indoor" carpet??? I needed 130" of carpet (I ALMOST made it; 122"----good enough!!!)

Why you ask? The outcome of my research this past week....Grace GMQ-Pro and Juki TL98Q combo...


It's not a "Cadillac" by any means, but, it's affordable and better than what I currently have (kneeling, basting, and fighting the quilting under the DSM)

Now for those of you following Angela (Soscrappy)----our "twin-dom" has returned! We "found" each other in 2008 and were amazed by the similarities between us (teachers of Math and Science, three children almost the same ages, quilters, runners...); I officially dubbed her my on-line twin! Now---we're at it again. However....YES! I WILL admit that I'm jealous of HER purchase versus mine, but...se-la-vee...I will enjoy watching her with her beautiful HQ 16 while I learn on my Juki 98. I'm okay with that :0) And besides-----she has to wait a couple of weeks; MINE is being delivered (hopefully) tomorrow! I've been eyeing up the tracking site every few hours ;0)

Okay---off to actually SEW something now that the cleaning is done!

Happy Tuesday