Sep 29, 2008

I got nuthin'

There is just not a lot going on around here---in retrospect, I have to wonder just what the heck I did with my time last week. A little knitting, some extra kitchen work. A bit of hand quilting at the meeting. Too many hands of Superior Canfield, for sure. Blog reading but little commenting.

IE is not good about letting me sign in and the next thing I know I have 20 some windows open-----grrrrr. By the time I get those closed and switch over to Mozilla I forget what I wanted to say, LOL. Or get frustrated and go do something else instead.

My quilt group met on Tuesday---shown is a quilt that Jane turned in. I didn't ask her but I think it might be some of the blocks sections that her mom had worked on as Sarah was the "queen of strings". Isn't it cool the way she used those for the centers of the Puss in the Corner? It smelled good too! Jane said that it had been blessed by three cats so she thought it best be washed before she donated it for the kids. Crinkled up nicely so it already looks loved.

My first challenge quilt was among those we pinned. Again I came home with more pinned tops than I went with. There is a picture of what awaits me down the line further down in the post---sigh. We had a bit of an impromptu potluck lunch. Nancy came in with a huge pot of chili to share and Linda M a pan of delish brownies topped with white and chocolate chips. I should have paid more attention to how she said she made those but then again, that would not help the weight loss attempts, LOL. Still, an excellent stop to the chocolate cravings that day!

Nancy and I were the last ones left at the meeting. I had an errand to run at the Oxford Exchange (where all the big box stores are out on 1-20). She met me out there. One of the Belles is a cashier at the store we went to so we got to chat with Rosa for a few minutes. There was a Starbucks inside the store so we stopped for a latte though I wish I had seen that they had pumpkin lattes before I ordered. Good chat though I didn't get home till almost 4. DJ was about to send out a search party for me.

I just finished up this top last night--the blocks had been done for days and the sashing strips all cut out but there it sat on the machine table till Saturday. Just not in the mood to sew. This top uses what I had left of the green challenge fabric. I also used up the last of the peach toile fabric for the block backgrounds begging a strip from my mom to finish up. The speckled peachy orange piece is also in the Jungle Nine Patch (J9P) as is the green pin dot that I used cornerstones and binding for this PIC. Still got a bit of that pin dot left but definitely made a dent in it. The plaid was used as one of the colors in the J9P too but I had quite a bit of yardage--my guess it is some that Mom had shared with me in the past but there is probably a little over a fat quarter left of it now since I am using it for this quilt's back. It had to be pieced to get the width and a section joined to length as I had halved the fabric at one point thinking I would use it for something else. I think that there were 5 seams in that thing once I was down with it, LOL. The binding for the last two are seamed but still need to be pressed and rolled.

This is what awaits me---12 quilts that taunt me as I wake up in the morning and the last thing I see at night. Pat took one of them off my hands to play with her "new to her" pantos or there would be a 13th buried in there----bless you! The top I sent her was one of only two that I pieced in this whole pile. I had hoped to work on my own projects a bit this year as the quilt group and I are not having to collect 60 some quilts for any local spot this year. No big push though some will go to Wrap The in Love and some already DID go to Pam's Quilts for Mexico. If I added the 5 personal tops that are pinned and waiting to the pile, I know it would reach the ceiling of the room. So as much as I WANT to work on my own things, this pile needs to go away and the only way that will happen is to start quilting. That, and declare a moratorium on bringing anymore home once that bonus PIC challenge quilt is pinned at the next meeting. Got another top? Please hold it till I get caught up a bit. Now practice saying that and sound convincing! Nancy is coming over sometime today so I can show her how to machine quilt. Linda C wants to come too but there is hardly enough room in here for ME once I set up to quilt, LOL so I will invite her up later. Looks like she will have ample opportunity, right?

Here is Skyler watching the birds and bugs and whatever it is that cats look at outside. He DOES love his window seats. He left this spot for a sunny area on the carpet in DJ's room but that has disappeared as the sun gets up higher in the sky. Actually I think he likes that spot so he can jump out at you in the hall way too---lay in wait and then attack the pants legs. Fun to watch. I wish I had even a 10th of his energy!

We had a fellow come in to the meeting carrying several large garbage bags of "scraps"' from someone in his family. He did not attend church there but he knew when and where we met so someone tipped him off. Most of it was definitely scraps and not usable but Nancy, Fleeta and I went through it all. Some wools and a bunch of stuff someone might want if they do crazy quilts. I don't want it but there have been some classes on making CQ's in recent years so someone in the JOY group might want it. There were some cottons and decorator type samples that I brought home to wash up that we could use. I no sooner got that all cleared up when I got a call from one of the Belles who can no longer attend. She just doesn't have time to quilt but she had fabric to donate from her SIL & MIL estates as well as some of her own. I picked that up on Friday. She had had to leave and left the stuff out on the porch so there was no one there to help me carry it or put it in the car. Unfortunately one large container I should have emptied some of it out first ---my lower back has been squawking at me since then. It has made walking a bit of a challenge the past few days as pounding the hard ground makes my back a little sore even without the strain I put on lifting.

The body is letting me down. I am still having a situation from early August checked out with another test scheduled for Thursday morning. So far I know what it isn't which relieves the mind but not what it is and treated. No point in whining about it though. It is what it is...........

Looks like DJ is done with the washer so time to hit the shower----

5 comments:

  1. I hope an answer to your health issue is quickly answered . . . and that it is an easy to fix solution *S* Take care.

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  2. Well, I found two inspirations on your blog, One, the way the quilt was hung up for display. I wonder if I can figure out how to do that here. And Two, I love that quilt very much. It's another way to do a string quilt.

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  3. A very unique way to use the strings...as centers of another block! I am always amazed at the creativity of quilters :)

    Hope the Dr. finds answers for you Thursday and your back heals fast :)

    and you can do it! Simply say that you need to finish the quilts you have before you take more donation quilts!!

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  4. What a great post.

    Not only was Skyler great, but to see all those beautiful quilts stacked.

    And I've been struggling with a way to hang quilts. I just haven't seen a way I really liked until now. What a nice way to display the quilt and yet it would be so easy to change.

    I even have a couple of windows that would look great with a "quilt" cover. I'm off to look for my JC Penney catalog. I think I saw those rings in there.

    Thanks again for the great post. I enjoyed every word. :)

    Darilyn

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  5. Wow! That is quite the pile of quilts to be quilted. It doesn't look like you will be working on your own stuff for a while! Teaching two more to machine quilt might help though.

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