10 hours in my sewing room - Easy Street and others

6:30 AM, and I was strolling into my quilting room.  I brought NO schoolwork home this weekend seeing that we teachers have 2 days worth of inservice on Monday & Tuesday while the kiddos have the entire week off.  Therefore, I'll plan to get some of my planning done during a couple of hours of worktime on Tuesday afternoon.

Therefore, I could FINALLY devote my undivided attention to my sewing room!  {{almost}}  From time to time, I did need to provide some meals on the table for Candace and Caitlyn.

My main project today:  Lazy Sunday.  Last weekend, I had left off piecing the sashing to the 2nd row before my bobbin thread ran out.  Hence, I wound 6 bobbins worth to start off the day, and then got to work.

I haven't done a "time-lapse" post in quite some time;  it's kind of a neat way to keep track of how fast/slow certain parts of quilting are.

A few hours into the morning, the center of Lazy Sunday was pieced.  I had also been piecing the border units as my leaders-enders, so I was making some good progress.

And then........

I forgot to continue with the time-lapse pictures!!! Whoops....

I simply was in a mode, and it was go-go-go;  and in the background, I was catching up on Bonnie's quiltcams from the past couple of months.

By mid-afternoon:  Lazy Sunday pieced!  77"x97".

Can I get an....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  ?

LOL

All the while, I was organizing up the leader-ender section;  failed to take a picture of that though.  "Omigosh" continues to be my main leader-ender project.  Perhaps in 4 years, at this pace, it may actually be completed SOLELY as leader-ender :)

THEN, I wanted to truly have an idea of how many quilt-tops I had hanging around, waiting OH WAITING to eventually be loaded into the quilting frame for some fancy-schmancy quilting.

The newest flimsy from last weekend:  Confetti (48"x48)

Bonnie's 2012-13 mystery:  Easy Street (85"x85")

Bonnie's Jamestown Landing (84"x96")

Bonnie's Smith Mountain Morning (72"x82")

RWB Heartstrings, but after seeing it in pictures.....nopers.  It's not ready for quilting!  I foresee 18 more RWB string blocks for placement on the left-and-right sides.  This layout.....eh.  It doesn't work.  It's unfinished!

Rainbow Scrap (from 2011? I think) (42"x56")

2010 BOM - 18 block RWB (58.5"x72")

HMMM......Alycia, if you happen to catch this post, let me know if you (or anyone you know) would be willing to take the top as-is and get it quilted up as a QOV ???  I'd rather get this into the arms of a recipient sooner-than-later; and at this rate..... in my basement.... it would be MUCH "later" than sooner.

Frost 25 (73"x73")

Freeze Frame (69"x86")

And not to mention a flannel snuggler quilt that was packed away in a different bin.  And I'm sure I have another one around the basement ... somewhere!  So, with ALL of these 100% ready for backings to be pieced or loaded directly into the frame....

I figured I simply needed to put some time on Wafer Cookies!  Which I did.  For a little while.

and then.....

The afternoon sloggies took hold.  And I was ready to be done.

I had a slightly restless night, playing "mommy" to Caitlyn.  She wasn't feeling well at school yesterday, and ALMOST lasted the whole day.  But, at 1:50, the elementary secretary walked her down to my classroom.  Even a "mom-hug" wasn't enough.  So, with some amazing coworkers helping out, I was on the way out the door of the school with Caitlyn next to me by 2:15.  And by 2:50... **sigh** ...  she officially proved to me that she was indeed sick.

By 10:00, THANKFULLY, she dozed off to sleep on the couch.  

Her sister, on the other hand; WIDE AWAKE watching Doc McStuffins.

Therefore, I figured I'd try to pass the time with some crochet.  The Hallmark channel has been the background noise of choice most evenings, and last night wasn't any different (until I allowed Candace to watch some Disney) :)

These blocks, along with probably one more, will be sewn together to make a simple lil' Christmas table runner for our piano.

There ya go, folks.  The list of flimsies is a bit..... overwhelming!  BUT, at least my sewing tables are clean and tidied.  My leader-ender section is freshly organized.  My "big" WIPs have reached an acceptable stage for folding or stashing on a shelf.

I'm READY for Friday's Clue #1.

OH WAIT!  

Crud!  

LOL

No I'm not!!!  

I completely forgot to pull fabrics.

:}

Oh well...tomorrow is another day.  I don't think I have enough energy left in me to spend any more time in the sewing room tonight.  Instead, I'll grab my crochet hook for the evening.

Happy Saturday!

Tidying loose ends -- Confetti, RWB Pineapple Blossoms, and Lazy Sunday

Today was the first substantial time spent in my sewing room in QUITE some time -- July, maybe?  Recall, my month of August was filled with my new obsession of crochet;  and then, of course, school started in September.

I dare say this is my first COMPLETE weekend home since school began.  Both days!  And I can stay in my PJs!!!!  And despite needing to tackle piles and piles of laundry, today... I still sewed!

Bonnie's Celtic Solstice mystery is drawing closer;  less then 2 weeks.  I will ALWAYS take part in a Bonnie mystery;  they simply are be-YOND amazing designs!

Therefore, I wanted to just clear my head and organize the umpteen projects in various stages in order to be ready for the mystery.

The crib quilt for a friend didn't take much effort to get to flimsy stage.  There is no longer a rush on the quilt, but I'd still like to get it to a finished state sooner than later.  

Pattern:  Confetti, Quiltmaker March/April 2010.

Super quick and easy!

Next was to take care of the stacks of pieces/units for the RWB Pineapple Blossom quilt that was started (and left) back in June.    At the same time, I had some Leaders-Enders in the works for the Lazy Sunday border units.

It took longer than expected to finish up all 40 pineapple blocks; probably because I double-sewed, pieced and trimmed up the bonus triangles into 40 bonus pinwheel blocks to be utilized in the border.
Those have now been set aside for some day in the future.  My layout will be the same as my last Pineapple Blossom quilt.

My full attention then moved onto piecing Lazy Sunday blocks with sashing, all the while, continuing with the border units as my leader-enders.

I was midway through the second row when my bobbin thread ran out, nor did I have any more bobbins prepped.  Therefore, I took that as a sign to call it a day.  Seven hours is still WAY more than I've sewed in months.

Now... I'll relax with my feet up with my crochet hook in-hand to work on Cassie's Laker Ripple afghan.

Happy Saturday.  Truly.

Kaleidoscope done; Laker Ripple progress [crochet]

It grew and grew, and finally finished (?) at 65 motifs.  Kaleidoscope Afghan.

And Candace approves :)  The final tail was weaved in at 9AM. 

I then had complete intentions of spending the rest of my Sunday downstairs in the sewing room in order to prepare and tidy for the up-coming Bonnie Mystery, but....

nah.  

I wasn't feeling it.

Instead, 

I pulled out the Laker Ripple in hopes to make some serious progress on it SO THAT when Bonnie's mystery does finally arrive, I can devote all my time/attention to it :)

Oh...and....

the Hallmark channel played ALL DAY Sunday.  7AM until 9PM.

{{I only needed a few kleenexes!}}

Back in the saddle

Due to a request from dear friend, I needed to get back to my quilting life!  My friend and his wife have just been given full custody of a sweet 'lil girl, and as a way to welcome her to her new (permanent?) home, they have asked me to make a quilt for her.

It truly didn't take me too long to find some fun girl colors, although finding a pattern was a different story.  (See that stack of magazines in the back?)  I wanted the pattern to be an easier one in order to have a quick finish, but yet be super adorable and "girly."

I'm pretty sure this will be perfect.

And, OH how I wish I had more energy to keep working away on it.  I'm sure if I was working at 100% health, I could actually have the entire quilt finished today, specially with the extra hour from Day Light's Savings.  However, I am now into day #8 of a "bug"... and I dare say that it has now turned bronchial (my non-professional diagnosis).  I'm tired of coughing.  

So, I'm going to sit for the next few hours with my crochet hook.  I should at least make progress on SOMETHING.  :)  I finished up the 32 additional motifs last night, and started attaching them together this morning.  Now that I see the layout in pictures, I think I'm simply going to have to make 5 more motifs in order to have the right-side finish off like the left side -- symmetrical that way.

Oh that Bonnie; Friends; and SCHOOL SPIRIT.

AGAIN!  The classic moment of "trying to fit it all in!!!!"

The lastest news happened Thursday night!  Our volleyball team is advancing to the Regional Finals after a SUPER CAH-RAZY GYM-EXPLODING match against a number 2 seeded team (we were seeded 7th).  As a former coach of STILL some of these girls, we were simply mis-seeded.  Sadly, it happens every year.  BUT... it is what it is.  Thursday night was an AMAZING night of volleyball between two very equally matched teams.  IN-TENSE action!  The match went all the way to the final 5th game.... with a final score of 15-10.  The evening was DEFINITELY worth the cost of the ticket.  AND the gas!  LOL.  The town was 2 hours 45 minutes away----so thankfully, not having school on Friday (students) was perfect timing in order to send as many fans over to the game as possible.  I still had Teacher Inservice meetings yesterday, but it was tolerable; even with little sleep.

Upon leaving for the Thursday night match, some big ol' crocodile tears were rolling down Candace's cheek.  "It's NOT FAIR, Mom!  Why can Cassie go but not us???"

Yes, yes....Cassie travelled the distance with me, but not Candace and Caitlyn.  Oh dear.  The world came to an end.  LOL.  Yet, whenever those two are with me at local games, the lovely words, "Mom, I'm bored" pop out all too soon.  And too frequent.  LOL.  So, they weren't given a choice.

But I'm a sucker.

SO, .....

"Alright Candace.  I'll take you guys to Skate City tomorrow night (Friday night).  And you can invite a friend along."

Candace, my lovely lovely child, knows me allll too well.  She knows that sometimes...I don't always follow through, even though I have excellent intentions of doing so.

So....

she brought out...... the PINKY!

"Pinky promise, Mom?!"

So, Skate City last night happened, with a Pizza Hut trip ahead of time to boot!  And friend.

Caitlyn's friend, sadly, could not make the evening festivities.  Instead, we set up a short play date for the two of them TODAY, 10-2.  

Which brings me to the current moment.

I've been working on some new motifs for the Kaleidoscope afghan when time allows.

My first priority, this morning at 5:30AM (after a cup of coffee), was to make up a couple of blue-n-gold scarves for the game tonight!  

And, OF COURSE, the other latest news:  BONNIE'S NEW MYSTERY!!!!!

Q: "So, Amy.  Are you doing Bonnie's newest mystery?"

Bah!  What a foolish, foolish question!

A true Bonnie fan would NEVER....E-VAH... miss out on a Bonnie mystery!

Therefore, in order to prepare a BIT for the mystery coming out in November, I suppose I needed to spend a little time tidying up my sewing room AND try to (at least) turn her last mystery (via Quiltmaker magazine) into a flimsy with the few hours I have today!!!!

I pulled out the units around 10:00 and displayed them on the floor.

Then I spent an hour cutting up the last of the required units for the sashing.

But that's it for now.  LOTS and LOTS to do in the next couple of hours before needing to hit the road for the Volleyball match tonight.   And, yet again, the match is over 2 1/2 hours away!!! 

BUT, thankfully, the Farm is within an hour's drive of the competiton's school, so the girls and I will be heading out a bit earlier to visit a bit, then head to the game.

HAPPPPPPY Saturday everyone.

Oh my! 2 weeks gone by...

I don't think it'll surprise anyone that this has been the picture of my kitchen table on most evenings and every Sunday for the past few weeks.  I do wish I would get better at doing a quick, little check-in on a day-to-day basis, though :)

Cassie's volleyball season concluded with an all-day tournament last Saturday.  That alone is a symbol of how fast this school year is zooming by already!

BUT LAST SUNDAY..... I crocheted the day away!  

((and sadly paid for my lack of AP-Statistics prepping throughout the week!)) :p

The "hexagon flower" units were wrapped up late Sunday evening, and then I started connecting the motifs together a little bit on most evenings this past week.

Today, I finished connecting 28 motifs; the recommended amount for the Kaleidoscope Challenge given out by Mikey from the Crochet Crowd.  HOWEVER, now that it is together (with loose ends still needing my attention), I will make another 22 motifs (2 more rows each of 5 and 6 motifs) in order to make this closer to a throw-size.  Even Candace said "it's too small;  even for ME, mom!"  :)

Ah yes..... and one day this week while walking through Shopko, I came upon this lovely sight!

I didn't dare take a picture of my cart after the damage I did to this bin.   And in all honesty, I hit up the store twice that day;  the first time Paul was with me, so I only did a little damage.  But later on that evening, I brought the girls with me.  I couldn't BELIEVE how empty the bin became from my afternoon visit to my early evening visit!  I guess I wasn't the only one who loaded up.  This picture was taken after my 2nd dig.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5...

That would be then number of months that have gone by since the last of the "white stuff" disappeared for us in Northern Wisconsin.  Even though we all enjoyed the excitement of the first snow fall today, it's still waaaaaay too fresh in my memory about the OVERLY LONNNNNNNG winter we had last season!  *sigh*

And darn!!!!!!  I'm kicking myself for having my lazy night a couple of days ago!  I SHOULD have gotten my bum outside to pick the last of our tomatoes in order to give them to MIL.   We had our first hard frost over night for the past two evenings, so...... they're done/gone/damaged.  I suppose they still COULD have made up some great sauce/juice, had I picked them yesterday, or evening today.  But..... I guess it is what it is.  I have plenty of juice and whole-tomatoes stored away for my family AND for the inlaws.  It's still easy to kick yourself about letting anything go to waste, though :\

Busy, busy, priorities, priorities..

If I could find 20 minutes in my life to update my blog on a daily basis, I certainly would....

LOL

It's INSANE how busy, busy the day-to-day is!  It ZOOOOMS by!  

I mean....come ON!  It's the first weekend in OCTOBER already!!!??!!?!!!!  

Holy moly.

Where did September go??

Caitlyn has dutifully been plugging away on her Pioneer Day projects with some assistance from Dad and Mom.   Here, she is hammering a pattern into a tincan to be used as a lantern (Project #1 - check.)

She took complete charge of making her 2nd project.....a Yarn Doll.  I never had a chance to snap a picture of it because she took it to school right away.

Her 3rd project was Apple Butter that we made up Tuesday evening.   Oh yes...we've been busy every night with SOME kind of preservation of some sort.  Tomatoes are still in full action.  Can you believe that???  LOL.  It's OCTOBER, for crying out loud.  This Sunday will be the LAST of our tomatoes, though.... ( I think???) :D

Her 4th and final project was 90% completed by herself!  She actually had the top all put together before I even realized she was making a quilt.  Little stink-pot!  :0)

So, I helped by showing her how to baste the layers together.  She quilted it with a simple grid.  I attached the binding for her, but then she finished sewing it to the front (via machine).

And then....bless her heart.... she said, "Mom, just so you know, I'm going to give this to Aspen.  He's moving away this weekend, so I want him to have it.  It'll be hard, but I know you give your quilts away all the time.  I want him to remember us."    Awwwww.

Candace has been reading up a storm, trying to challenge herself into reading over 20 books (or chapters) each month.  She accomplished the September goal. :)  Yay Candace.   When I asked her about reading, she said..."Ya Mom, I like reading more this year.  Last year I didn't even read 100 books, but I'm going to get 200 easily this year." Awwww.

And school.....wow!  Keeping me oodles busy!  7AM - 5PM, and then it picks back up at 8PM - 10PM just about everynight after the girls head off to bed.  BUT, the students this year are pretty okay ;)  Many of them have a conscience, and know right from wrong, and are willing to go the length to "do the right thing."  Bless them :)  {{And I'll have you know, this was COMPLETELY initiated by the students.  This was not a "I want you to write me a letter on what you did wrong" moment.  This showed up on my desk after class, completely a surprise to me.}}  Awww.

:D  Yup.  LOTS of great AWWWWW moments flying around this place.  Isn't life great?

Yep...even this student! :)  She and I are still often found at the kitchen table, nightly, working on homework, side-by-side.  Pictured here, she's just starting her Math HW.  Gah.......what kind of teacher must she have that actually assigns HW once in a while?!?!?!?!?!?!?  

;)

{{At most 2 problems on any given night.  2 keys problems.  10 minutes.  Doable, right?}}

And then.....Volleyball...

Volleyball...

Volleyball.......

AND yet MORE volleyball!!!!!

 Not to mention that we actually TRY to fit in some "dad" time when he's home and not working his own crazy busy 12-hour shift schedule.

PLUS some family time around a campfire with the Autumn season hitting full force.  Last weekend was reserved for family (at least until Sunday afternoon hit).....

And then it was back to more school work.

But even a teacher's brain hits a shutting-down-going-to-break mode EVENTUALLY!

All-in-All....

Life is pretty grand right now!  Flying by.  Filled to the brim.  But happy.  And healthy.  

Happy Friday.