how goals become goals

My pal Norma is on holiday today---I think it is Victoria Day up there in BC---and we have been chatting on IM a bit.

I finished up the July embroidery block yesterday and started the next one which is an egg basket. Stitching has continued this morning.  Norma left to get her day started, that two hour time difference between here and there, after all.  I kept stitching and at some point I said this----

Linda J says

I am going to set up to quilt in a bit (meaning as soon as I ran out of thread in my needle)  

Norma says

tired of stitching?

Linda J says

no never! or seldom anyway

Norma says

lol

mix things up a bit? or you have a list of things to tackle too!

Linda J says

no, I just need to move that qov forward so I can turn it in next meeting

I have a list at least in my head I do

there are three bed quilts that I want to finish----cheap trick, pop stix and the Fab challenge

and of course that monstrous pile in the bedroom to quilt

Norma says

that never goes down!

Linda J says

and I want to start the farmers  wife sampler

those are the primary things

oh and the paint chip challenge August button up before that for sure

Norma says

your list is growing!

Linda J says

and while we are at it, more album blocks for that donation quilt

I really should ACTUALLY write it down

Norma says

it is easier to adjust if it is in your head!  lol

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And there you have it---stated goals though note that I did not leave a time frame for all this to get done with the exception of the one quilt I should be working on.

My mom called this morning with news that she had found some basket fabric, probably the very yardage I was looking for about two months back.  Quite the treasure trove apparently, LOL but she said my name was on it and I see a basket block sampler quilt for sure on my horizon.  Pals Maggie and Sheila had also helped me out when I needed some for May basket and Easter basket and there is fabric left for such a purpose.  Another one for the mental or written list.  OR some might go in the Farmers Wife Sampler since there are several basket blocks in it.

Also on another front, I am starting my walking program again after about a year and half of  laying off.  I have been trying to make myself get started for a month now.  This morning was it. I had tried his recumbent bike a few days ago but it hurt my knees and I would rather walk.  I am going to start slow and go everything day till I get back in shape a bit more and gradually increase my laps.  I went 1.1/4 laps this morning fairly easily so doubt I will remain at that level long.  Saying it out loud strengthens my resolve.  

I do not quite understand my husband's reaction when I came home though.  I have quilt group tomorrow so I had taken a couple things out of my car trunk so I can replace them with what I am dragging to the meeting before I came in the house.   He says "oh I thought you went walking"  I tell him I had.  He says "you don't look like you did"  not that he thought I was lying.   I guess since I didn't have my old walking outfit on and he didn't see the mp3 player around my neck past the things I was carrying.  Or I didn't look overheated and sweating enough???  I was not running nor am I ever apt to. The correct response should have been something along the lines of "Good to see that you moved beyond the thinking about it stage.  Proud of you, keep it  up"  In previous years he would be telling me that I was pushing it too much, I didn't have to go every day and get on me for being too gung-ho.  Do you want me to go or don't you?

Guess that's it---a row quilt is waiting and that flying geese row has my name on it.

some progress

Friday I pieced a bit. Two Album blocks made using the Blue Elephant granny square tutorial.   11 blocks towards a pro bono quilt.  I have a bunch more strips paired up so who knows how big it will be.  Maybe eventually two quilts even.

Saturday, I quilted on the Row QOV--last posted HERE but before I had completed the side borders--late February of this year anyway.  I got the top 4 rows done before I quit.  There are a total of 10 rows but it is far too warm in the house to want a quilt on my lap.  Mind you, not quite warm enough for my husband to okay turning on the a/c but close.  (Has to hit 80 because the thing is set at 79.  I repeat, I did not move South for the summers).  One of the Belles wants to see how I approach machine quilting so I am probably going to work on this at the meeting on Tuesday if not before.

So what am I doing today?  What I wanted to do yesterday actually.  I have barely touched my embroidery lately.  Now that I have to take minutes at guild meeting, there went some of my stitching time and I was dismantling quilt blocks at  my last doctor's appointment.  Seems like I am always doing something else and don't pull it out to work on it.  I have forgotten just how many of these that I have completed but they are up in my facebook album and on here too.  This one is about done, mostly a gob of french knots that accent the star shaped cookies.  Patterns are free from Bee Tree Designs on her flickr pages.

Hope you have found something to trip YOUR creative trigger today-------

WIP Weds whatever week

Between not feeling like sewing/quilting this weekend, my doctor's appointment and sitting at the hospital for DJ's 2nd eye surgery, I have gotten a good bit of the June Bee Tree Designs basket block done. Of course, it helps that there is not near as much stitching required as the previous one(s). I did pull the next marked block and the printout and slipped it in the tote "just in case" I finished. Not quite there yet!

DJ is doing well with his 2nd eye. I had to hurry up and put his drops in before he left for the doctor's office. I had planned on driving us in but he either didn't want me to go or didn't feel it was needed. The patch is off and he can see well enough. They will write down what they want him to do as far as eye drops in both eyes and that is all I needed to know anyway---any changes in meds and administration schedule.

So what is on tap now that I suddenly have a free morning? Well, I have to finish up my name tag thing for the Friendship Quilter's Guild. It is expected that each member have one of the same type for the quilt show this weekend. It won't matter for set up day but for white gloving and any job representing the guild at the show, tag required.

Nothing like procrastinating till almost the last minute. This thing has been up on the design wall for months and months---like, March maybe?

I had cut up all the blue print I had used in the block for use in the QOV quilt tops so I dug around till I found something similar in shading for the binding. It won't take long to finish; it was just NOT a priority before. I'll try quilting one or the other of the pinned tops once I am done. Maybe the pro bono one since Jane has already volunteered for binding detail.

Next week, I think I am way overdue for a rewards project and I am leaning towards the last of the Halvorsen autumn "In Seasons". For real this time! The other three are entered in the quilt show but the fall one is still waiting for me. Yep, time to make that happen once the quilt show hub-bub is over. Two other deadline projects are in the wings and they will need to follow. One is a "top secret project (TSP)" for sure as it is Norma's FAB Par-tay next. Cher also has a challenge going that I think we are supposed to keep hush-hush as well, reveal date is not announced yet. I am pretty sure that I know what I want to do in both cases but that is subject to change, LOL.

And sew it goes------

WIP Weds, wk.29

Just to avoid a pictureless post, here is the button basket block that I finished up yesterday. I also put a few stitches in the block that followed but too few to show. Design source: Bee Tree Designs on her flickr pages.

So what have I been up to today? Earlier in the day I started pressing and cutting some of that white on white pile from the last post. I got a nice pile of 3.5 inch squares and a start on the 30 6.5 inch squares I need to complete my giant four patches for the D4P top I want to make. I want the smaller squares for 3-D bowtie blocks to go with the small leftover blue squares from D4P. BUT I had a few other things to do before I could really get deeply involved with the prep work.

Errands run? Check. Lunch made? Check. Thanks to Pat, our Belles hostess I came home from the meetings with some of the leftover tossed salad as well as fresh tomatoes, whole cantaloupes(!) and some of the leftover water melon. That changed my menu plans a bit so I made Chicken Cobb Salads for us for lunch. Other kitchen tasks? Check. I have some vegetable beef soup thawed from the freezer and chopped up some of fresh tomatoes and tossed them in with that. I also re-purposed the extra hard boiled eggs by making some egg salad for tomorrow's lunch. Other than making me a big old pot of iced tea in a bit I can hole up in the sewing room and get something done.

At this point I wouldn't mind just hanging with my head in the freezer or hang out in the bathroom or the utility room---the a/c seems to working best in those small rooms. But I put on my big girl quilter panties and fire up the iron. There is really not a spot to put this white fabric back into so I hope to get it cut for the various projects if possible. Skinny Strips needs some whites if I stumble on some significant yardage.

Hope you are having a good day in whatever you chose to do---------

a little progress?

In the past days I have gotten a little bit more done in several areas.

I almost have 4 blocks completely hand quilted on the Bird Brain Santa. I am still looking for a cable idea for the sashing and have a few on order that MIGHT work. I think it needs something more than in the ditch. I did check in my inventory at home and have one that may be more in keeping with what I am visualizing though. I have NOT looked in any of my quilting motif books yet either.



Next we have most of the flower stems hand appliqued down on this project---the one on the extreme left is only partially stitched. Note: this is April's quilt of the month of the Joined at the Hip Button Up. I am so far behind since I elected to go with hand work. Oh well, that is why the" Welcome" one is done and hanging. I am considering jumping ahead to July since I so far behind and catch finish this up more at my leisure. Actually if you leave off the July wording, this one would work for any of the patriotic US holidays. HMMMM

I am also thinking that I should pull the stuff for the "In Seasons" Summer wall hanging. DJ even was commenting on the fact that the one hanging says "Spring" but it sure feels like Summer is here with a vengeance. Not by the calendar of course but tell that to the jet stream, LOL. I am drawn more to THAT than what I was working on yesterday though. Maybe it will get me out of my doldrums a bit?? I can hope.


This was what I was piddling with yesterday but did not get too far. I am using the Puss in the Corner method from Billie Lauder's Quick Quilt Tricks book #2 for this. This is not what she calls it, however; "Four = Nine Uneven Nine Patch " is its name in the book. Anyway, you start with a big 4 patch to make the finished block. This is part of my scrap bag challenge for the quilt group. One of many kits and a few started projects in that area.

I was going to cut some 6 1/2 inch blue blocks and try the disappearing 4 patch blocks that my pal Pat had featured on her blog but have not done it yet. I was thinking that they might work for a veteran's home quilt. Just two colors like hers shown HERE --classic look, don't you think? So striking in the green fabric she chose making me wonder why they all insist on RWB or service related colors. Shades of blue might work for the Air Force folks though. HMMM again.

I took this bit of embroidery with me on my trip last month but barely touched it. It was a fast trip and I really did not have a lot of time to just sit and stitch plus we were sharing driving duties in order to get up there and back in one day. It is the Button basket block from Bee Tree Designs. Scroll back to previous post to find the link from the Flickr page if you want it. (Being lazy, LOL) There is a ton of stitching on this thing and I think the next one, honey and biscuits, is a similar situation! But I am liking how the green floss looks. This will be my meeting project. I have quilt guild coming up this Saturday and a Belle's gathering on Tuesday.



And here is the other thing I have been doing---reading. Some days, it is all I can do to look at the local newspaper but I enjoy reading. It reminds me of when I was a kid and we used to head up to the town library almost daily in the sumer to check out some books, read them and head back to get another stack. Some of these, my mom just sent back with me and a couple I had on my shelves. I finished up the Kristin Hannah book last evening and started on 3 Nights in August right after that. The next thing I knew it was almost midnight and Skyler has been waking me up around 5:30 in the morning. Short nights!

Normally I prefer fictional works but this book written by Buzz Bissinger, the same guy who wrote Friday Night Lights is an interesting account of Tony LaRussa and managing the St. Louis Cardinals. Since I often wonder why they make the moves they do in the course of the game, it ia enlightening. Actually I remember the 3 games the title refers to--classic Cubs/Cardinal series played in STL. Since it was written back in 2005 and the events took place in August of 2003, you see the turnover in position players and pitchers. I would have to visit the MLB site to even know if some of these guys are still in baseball or when others began their time with the team. Chris Carpenter and Albert Pujols might be the only holdovers that spring to mind.

And so it goes----not getting much done but doing what I want to do even if I still feel like I am in a slump. Hope you are having a good day and thanks for stopping by

WIP Weds

Another day with waves of thunderstorms rolling in. I have powered down the computer twice already and elected NOT to even get started on the sewing machine for the same reason.

How about marking the next set of embroidery blocks instead? The basket blocks are somewhat monthly or seasonal themed by Cyndi Hoeller of Bee Tree Designs. Norma and I located the design printouts HERE on Flickr but she is currently showing some wonderful child friendly designs on her blog called "Pennies for Rylee".

Since we have done some embroidery in red (Alex Anderson's 12 Days of Christmas hearts and flowers) and blue (calendar snowmen) I said "how about green for something a little different?" It is Norma's fav color, after all. A friend of mine had done the blocks in Nancy Martin's Kitties to Stitch and Quilt in green. It turned out wonderfully. I own the book and they show one set of the blocks done up with a triple rail and nine patch sashing, cornerstones in 30 repro fabrics for a framed square version. Anyway, I shared a picture of the finished quilt with her and she's" in." I was still not sure about that decision but the more of these blocks that I mark with the green pigma pen, the more I like the shading!

I am due for a doctor's appointment in about a week. Last time I saw the doctor he commented about my embroidering at the visit "you were doing that LAST time you were here" Uh, yeah! It is my carry around project, after all. It helps me wait more patiently as I just can't sit and read ancient magazines. I want to see if he notices that I changed colors, LOL as well as subject matter. Santas to baskets, red to green. One color projects are easier to transport and we will be logging some car time when we go back to IL for the grandson's high school graduation.

Hopefully the weather will clear up tomorrow and I can get to sewing on the giftie. The deadline got pushed back a bit but I may come close to getting it to the Bday FAB fairly close to her special date. My goal, anyway.