August Recap

Projects finished in August. Not to shabby. Now I need to get quilting.

Yesterday I finished my 10,000 Pyramids top. I really like the colors and how it turned out. Can't wait to get it quilted.

I'm hoping to get some sewing done today, but who knows. It's beautiful outside, so I'm guessing a good portion of the day will be spent outside.

I have one more picture to share. When I downloaded pictures from the camera I remembered that Grace grabbed my camera when we were at the quilt store. I thought this picture she took was kind of cool. I have no idea where she took it. I had no idea they had a mirror at the quilt shop.

Have a great day!!!

New Challenge

I'm going to take on another challenge. Finn posted her New Year's Eve Challenge and I think I'm going to give it a try in an attempt to finish up some 1/2 finished tops. The idea for me is to get rid of some of the plastic shoe boxes on the shelves in the cave. Then I can fill them all again with new projects for 2009. Great rationale, don't you think????

I think I need to do a quick inventory to see what needs to be completed. The majority of this challenge for me will be quilting.

Last night was guild night and I turned in my challenge table topper. As I suspected would be the case, no ribbons for me. I would have liked a ribbon, but right now it's just good for me to participate and step out of my box and try some new things. The quilts that won were wonderful.

Jan Patek was the guest speaker last night. I have no pictures to share because the camera battery was DEAD. Not even enough juice to turn the camera on. I ate when I do stuff like that and don't check things before leaving the house.
Jan's quilts were beautiful. Lots and lots of applique and "primitive" in looks. Can't stand that word primitive, so I'm going to use whimsical. All of her quilts told a story of some sort, which was great. I commented to my friend that whenever I see quilts like Jan's I want to learn applique. Probably won't happen in this lifetime though. I've taken 4 classes and haven't mastered the concept yet.

Show and tell was great and very motivating. A group of ladies from the guild went to a retreat over the weekend and made over 100 Project Linus quilt tops. That is AMAZING!!! Makes me think that I really need to get busy. Since those quilts are meant to be small, it would be such a great way to use up some of the accumulated scraps.

I had to chuckle this morning while reading Judy L's take on Rules & Customs. I came from the house of rules, some of them crazy. My sister and I laugh whenever we put swimsuits on because we still hear Mom in our heads yelling about cover-ups and how they are an absolute must. Even in college, when the body would accommodate a bikini, I could hardly walk around the pool without being covered up. That cover up didn't attract a lot of guys.
I don't really remember the rule of calling before showing up. That one didn't really surface for me until college. A guy I dated had that rule. Kind of irritated me since that was before the days of cell phones. Later found out he was dating someone else on the side, so I'm guessing that rule was more for his safety.
One custom that has lasted and will continue on in our house is the making phone calls after 9 PM. It's got to be an emergency to call someone after 9 and if it's not, then you apologize and apologize for calling so late and disturbing everyone.

This weeks project will be bags for Brandi. the photographer.

Have a great day!

Entertainment at Lunch

All of my lunch dates were tied up today, so this is how I entertained myself while eating.




Have a great day!

Lots of Strips

I was able to finish 3 tops this week. I know I've said it a million times, but for the one million one time - I love jelly rolls. The first 2 pictures are using Tula Pink's Flutterby fabric from Moda. I was able to use one jelly roll for all the strips in both quilts. I added 1 7/8 yards of other fabric for the big strips. When quilted these will make large baby quilts or just the right size lap quilts. I'm pretty pleased with myself. I like the fact that the tops look completely different based on the 2 main fabrics I picked.

This is Simply Strippy from Bonnie over at Quiltville. For this top, I used a jelly roll that I got from the strip club that I sign up for. Instead of using the pattern that was suggested, I decided the fabric would look better as a Simply Strippy quilt. This one I truly can't wait to quilt. It makes me think of water, so I'm going to have to do something wavy. My little helper had to get in the picture too.


Starting to think that I need to work Peg's Challenge again, since I'm not 5 tops up for August.

Have a great weekend.

Busy Week

I have been busy this week, but all my projects are still in the piece part stage, so I don't really have anything fun to show...yet.

Below is a picture of the quilt my mother in law did that I quilted. I ended up doing a stipple on it. I tried to use one my pantographs, but wasn't having much luck. The stitches kept skipping and I just wasn't pleased. I figured if I did an all over stipple, then I could stand on the front and see what was going on with the stitches and eliminate the removing of stitches.

Just have to share this picture of Grace. She went to preschool this morning with pony tails. Her hair is FINALLY long enough that we can get a little pony in the back or 2 ponies on the side. The way she looked this morning just made me have to take a picture and smile.

I hope to finish up a couple tops this weekend, so I will have some photos to share.

Have a great weekend.

Projects

No pictures to share this morning. I have been sewing like a crazy person though. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow I will have something for show and tell. Over the weekend I managed to get a quilt quilted for my mother in law. What a relief. I have been sitting on it since January, so I'm sure she was convinced it was lost in the depths of the "cave". Grace and I will deliver it to her this evening.


Last night I got the wild hair to pull out a couple simple jelly roll projects. Have I shared how much I LOVE JELLY ROLLS. I know some people think they are a waste of money, but I love them. I love have a whole line of fabric in my hands. I love not having to cut 2 1/2 inch strips. I love that the 2 1/2 inch strips are straight and don't have an L in them like mine normally do. I just LOVE jelly rolls. I also love that with a yard or 2 of extra fabric, I can get 2 good size lap quilts from one jelly roll.



So, I found a pattern (above) by M'Liss Rae Hawley in my new 2009 Quilt calendar that I just picked up. It caught my eye because I knew it would go together fairly quick, which truly is the case. I can hardly wait to get it finished up tonight.

Well, I better get busy. Have a great day.

Olympics

What is up with all the controversies going on in the Olympics? The Chinese seem to be too young. The boxers are up in arms. The wrestlers are ticked about who won the gold. I keep thinking to myself, it's sports. How is it that the Olympics are making the world a better place to live? Solving world hunger? Fixing pollution and energy issues? Don't get me wrong, I'm sitting glued to the TV like the rest of the world. In the back of my mind though, I keep thinking that this way we (people in general) are always fighting and can't seem to get along.

Holy crud!

OK I'm off my soap box. Have a great day!

WIP and Stuff

This is the Work in Progress that I'm attempting to finish in between watching the Olympics, working and running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I'm very excited with how it's turning out. The pattern is 10,000 Pyramids. It was a strip of the month quilt from Harpers (LQS). It will have 2 borders when it's finished.

Okra, lots of okra. Yesterday I tried pickled okra and liked it so tonight I decided to try and pickle some myself.

This is the fruit of my labor. Doesn't seem like a lot for all the work but I'm anxious to see how it turns out. The recipe I used said I'm supposed to wait 6 weeks before opening. WOW, that's going to seem like a life time. I don't do a lot of canning. I've done salsa and no one got sick, which is a good thing. Hopefully the okra pickles and is very tasty. I'm hoping to get some salsa going also.

This is going to be my next project. It's yet another top from Strip Club at Harpers. I LOVE the bright colors, so I can hardly wait to cut into the fabric. I keep trying to convince myself that I need to finish some things up, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to wait.

TTFN, have a great day!

Quiltathon - Day 2

I had another productive day. Boy I wish I had more vacation. ... imagine all the things I could finish ...

The guild I joined is having a challenge with the fabric below. I picked up my 6 x 6 piece of challenge fabric.

And made this table runner. Kind of washed out in the picture, but very pretty in person. I followed the stars and blue/green theme of the fabric. I always wanted to make the Churn Dash pattern in one of the Atkinson design books. It just needs to uilted and bound.

The Maypole half square triangles is all pieced together. I waffled on a border, but think it will just be too much. While I like the design, I don't know now that I picked the best fabric. Oh well, live and learn.


I have blocks on my design wall for another quilt that was in progress. Hopefully I can get it all put together this weekend.

Tomorrow is zoo day. There won't be much sewing done because of that.

Have a great day!

A Night at the Fair

Grace and I went to the Johnson County Fair in Gardner Kansas on Tuesday night. It's not all that far from our house and the weather wasn't horribly hot so I thought it might be a fun outing.

Of course we had to stop and look at the quilts. The way the quilts are displayed is very sad. There isn't enough room in the building, so they are all folded and hung over a frame. It's next to impossible to see who got ribbons and which was reserve or grand champion. Oh well, quilt show, none the less.

Grace can never get enough of the Merry Go Round. I got to ride with her for free. Going around in circles makes me extremely nauseous. I did everything to focus on her and not look around. Sad, very sad.

Speaking of rides, Grace rode the dragon roller coaster by herself. BOOO HOOO my baby is growing up. I asked if I could ride with her or if she wanted me to ride. I got the independent look and a "NO mom, I'm going to do it myself." It was pretty funny to watch and listen to her go around and that jerky thing. Every time her cart went by I could hear her screaming as loud as she could.

In between rides and checking out the rabbits and chickens, we sat for the dog agility competition. I've never seen one LIVE, so it was pretty interesting. My counterpart, who wants a dog so bad she could spit, kept announcing that when she got HER dog, she would be entering the competition. The one question that kept coming up was "Mom, why are those kids yelling at their dogs? It's not nice to yell at them." Oh brother.
My parting shot for the evening was the Ferris wheel. I did my best to try and convince Grace to ride with me. She wanted nothing to do with it. Oh well.

Thanks for letting me share our fair experience. Have a great day!

Quiltathon - Day 1

Today I participated in my own personal quiltathon. Judy is having hers this weekend, but I think the schedule is a bit to crowded to include sewing in it.

Helper #1

Helper #2

I'm hoping to get this sewn together tomorrow, but all of the 1/2 square triangles are done.

I completed this top today. I'm pleased with how it turned out. This is my version of the Blue Underground pattern that I picked up. The fabric is fat quarters that I received from a friend for Christmas. Other fat quarters came from my mother in law for a birthday. Some of it is also fabric that I dyed.

I will be sure to share what I complete tomorrow.

Have a great night.

Organizing

I promised I would show pictures of the progress that I made organizing my cabinet and shelf. I'm pleased that I challenged myself to get it done.

Before:

Cabinet after folding and sorting (all novelty fabric):


Under the bed box full of nicely folded and sorted fat quarters:

And the shelf with all of the color, non-novelty fabric sorted and folded nicely by color:


These are the 3 boxes that remain. The pieces are less than a 1/2 yard, so I'm going to attempt to use the comic book board method that Carla mentioned on her blog to manage these. I don't know when I will get to this mess.


I'm taking Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off of work this week. I'm going to sew for the first 2 days and then hit the zoo on Friday. Hopefully the heat will be GONE by then. I'm going to attempt to finish several tops that are either just cut out or partially put together on Wednesday and Thursday. My own little Quiltathon.

Have a great day.

Singing the Tune Differently

I think the tune goes something like, baby it's cold outside. Here in KC, we are singing Baby it's HOT outside. I spent the day in the cave and it was WONDERFUL. I think the temperature today was about 92, but the humidity was unreal. When it's all factored together it had to have been about 108. It's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow. UGH. I believe I will be spending more time in the cave, which is where I spent a good part of the day today.

Tomorrow I will share pictures of my shelf and cabinet. I'm pleased to say that most everything is folded and back in the cabinet or on the shelves in a nice organized manner.

Until tomorrow - sleep tight.