A whirlwind

I tell you, the last two days have gone by so quickly it has almost been a blur!  Yesterday I did some of the errands that I had originally planned to do today after the quilt group met and frankly, now I am happy that I did!

I had gotten an order of batting in from Nu Style Quilting for  our donation quilts.  They pull 66 yards of 48 yard batting off and cram into a box that measures 17 x 17 x 32 inches.  One of the girls had volunteered to help me roll it off on the cardboard tubing we have at the meeting place.  Knowing that, I had removed the cardboard boxing from around the large bag to get it to relax a bit.  Oh, it relaxed all right but I could barely see out the rear view window!  The cardboard part?  Pretty much filled up my trunk with all the other stuff in there including the used serger I had boxed up to UPS on to my pal in Tennessee.  First stop, the recycle bin at McClellan.  I have been so glad to know that there is one over on the former base as I have been wearing a path to that spot with the big purge and clean deal recently.

I also knew that I needed to take our wet-dry canister vacuum from home as we had unfortunately seen some evidence of rodents in our storage closet.  BIG GIANT UGH there.  I found just how bad it was today.  The cleaning lady and apparently the exterminator never do go in that closet and in our space.  Really the cleaning person should not have to, that is our job really.   We don't keep any food there to speak of but they were having a field day with anything paper, it looks like.  Anyway, DJ loaded up the vacuum on the front passenger seat strapping it in to keep that round thing from dumping--it is top heavy.  See above---no back seat, no trunk.

First stop was the church meeting spot to drop that stuff off for today.  2nd stop, mail the serger.  3rd, out to Hobby Lobby.  Nope they did not have that fabric that I had hoped to find but they did have McCalls patterns on sale for 99 cents.  I pulled some home dec ones and a couple of zippers and zoom, I was gone.  Then off to get some deli meat for our lunch and a quick swing by the library to drop off a book.  All done including drive time( 20 mins approximately one way)  in slightly less that 90 minutes.

So today was our meeting.  Bev and I made short work of rolling up the batting.  Then I started emptying out the closet.  THX to Judy J and Pat for helping me out, washing up the cups, the shelves, inspecting the bins, loading and unloading the room.  Nasty job but it is done.  I talked to the church secretary giving her heads up so she knows some more attention will be needed in that area.

Donna was showing a few of the girls how to make these cute little purses.    She made a braided cord for the handle and embellished it with a cute kanzashi flower.

Apparently someone at quilt guild had shared how to do this at a previous meeting.  You start with a square about 18 x 18 so two fat quarters will do it for the body of the piece.  You do bind that square first.  Oh, I need to ask her if there is batting in it.   From what I could see you turn it diagonally and the tips overlap and then you stitch it down in a diamond manner to form inner pockets.  Then the top corner makes the flap area.

I asked if they knew the pattern source but no one seemed to know if that woman had come up with it herself or whether is was one of those things that makes the rounds or shows up on pinterest etc.

Valera thought there might have been a pattern from Viking that was similar.  I tried to get a picture of the bag interior so you can see the pocket areas.  I AM going to try this though and probably soon before I forget how they did it.  Maybe a tutorial at that point would be good??  Some of the girls were going to try this for granddaughters and others for the guild bazaar at some upcoming quilt shows.  Lick Skillet Guild in Oxford is having their first ever quilt show ,not sure of the dates as I am not a member but Bev is. )  She said they were being asked to make 5 items each for that purpose for fund raising.  This may be one of her items in addition to those sewing rolls we had made a few months back.

I love the fabrics that Donna chose for this project.  Love stripes anyway but it looks so sweet with the print she chose.

When it came time for lunch, consensus was that we go to Olive Garden.  I was not at all sure about that since I had worn my grubby clothes and was really hot and sweaty from the closet cleaning.  I really just wanted to go home and get back in the shower.  Really this morning, I thought it was pretty ridiculous of me to take a shower BEFORE I went to the meeting---shower to go clean a closet?????   Sit me down wind of y'all if I go.   But I have to say, that I was happy that the girls talked me into it.    With me being so occupied with the labors I would not have had a chance to visit with them much today.  We were thrilled that one of our gals that has not been able to come for some time was with us today.  A few others were gone on vacation right now, a couple others must have had other plans and another is rehabbing after a recent fall.

Plans were made for the fall sew-in where we will try that 4 patch stack and whack.  Some of the girls had fabric selections  with them today and those choices should make some really cool quilts!   4th Tuesday in October from 9-5 if anyone in the area wants to come join us.

 Then once I got home, put the back up roll of batting in our shed, drug the vacuum stuff back in the house..........it is quilt show time in Gadsden later this month.  Jane needed entries.  At first I had not planned on entering especially since my PopStix binding has not been touched since the LAST meeting.  I do not feel like entering it and then making myself spend 3 days stitching on it.  I have other things on my list that need attention first.  BUT I forgot that I had not entered my Christmas Patience Corner anywhere yet.  Jane gave me an entry form before we left the meeting spot.

I am entering basically three of my blog hop pieces and this big old bed quilt.   When I pulled it off the quilt rack and was measuring it for the dimension info for the entry form (83 x 95, LOL) you can see who was making himself right at home!  Let me tell you, he was also a little miffed with me when I made him get OFF it.   The quilts are all in their labeled individual pillowcases and Jane will pick them up tomorrow.  They like to pin the longer bed quilts up ahead of time to save time on set up day.  The Patience Corner will need it!

This was the view yesterday.   Before I had left on my big errand, I had thrown the towels in the wash.  Actually since I was gone so long, DJ switched them over and they came out as we were having lunch.  He quickly folded up my towels, leaving them on the coffee table. Skyler climbed on.  Warm towels!!  Actually when I left the kitchen he was facing the other direction and sitting up looking at me, like a little prince on his thrown.  Prince and the Pea???  By the time I got the camera he changed directions.  He was on that stack for hours too!

I have the giftie serger cover cut out but I am in no mood to sew at this point.  I am changing things up a bit as I said I would do.  I want some of this to be a surprise for my friend so I may not share this till I know she has received it.  I'll be happy to sew tomorrow, maybe try that little sweet purse first, but not today.  I am heading for the shower, now that I finally cooled from unloading the car in the hot blazing afternoon sun and am sucking down a big cold glass of fresh brewed iced tea.  Thank heavens for leftover spaghetti and meatballs, although I am thinking my meatballs might end up as a sandwich.  A couple of the girls ordered that for lunch and it looked good, LOL.

And sew it goes---or doesn't go in this case.  THX for stopping by!