Monday check-in

How can you tell that a quilter has been busy quilting?   I swap out what pins I have on hand for an empty box when I go to Bama Belles. This one WAS empty on July 24th and I guess this is about 9 or 10 quilts worth??  To tell you the truth, the days and the quilts are all blending together at this point.  I have lost count. I have barely left the house being a woman on a mission here but I am so close to done!!

The quilt below was the one under the needle on Saturday morning, Faux Log Cabin.  My last pinned donation quilt for the time being anyway.  I need to mark two donation tops with some wide cross hatching and figure out what will go in the off squares of another with an on-point setting. That might explain why they are still waiting?  I also know that those three and possibly the 4th will need batting pieced to accommodate extra width over 48 inches.  Translation:  more work, LOL.

I finished that one up on Saturday and did about 10 zoom lines on the one below until the thunderstorms forced me off the sewing machine and the computer.  (BTW we got about 1.8 inches of rain in the gauge in a fairly short time.)  This is Linda C's faux jelly roll with a lot of 30's prints in it which I finished zooming on Sunday.  Yes, I still need to bind it.  I got it seamed and a boatload of bobbins wound before I closed up "shop" last night.

Zoom lines don't take long.  I really want to be done with these donation quilts and start piecing again.   I was pushing forward while I listened/watched the Cardinal/Brewers game on ESPN.  I am not sure what to call this pattern.  Rails and Twisting Stars might work for the quilt document.  It is one of the tops that Linda C left behind when she moved so I can't ask her.  I think that a few blocks were turned the "wrong" way??  The stars that form at the block junctures twirl the same way but to me, there are a few spots where the rails should be going the opposite direction rather than forming a straight line.  What do you think? Is it just me?  The fabrics are lovely, aren't they but I had a few problems quilting it.  I just hope that the problems are not screamingly apparent.  I did my best with what I had to work with.  IIWII.  The binding application is on today's "to do"  list as well.

So I have a little bit of donation quilt sewing to do yet but essentially I am happy dancing to have those quilts behind me.  I DO plan on quilting my two wall hangings before I pack up Erik the Red and give him a rest.   Neither task should take long though I have to remember to cut out a strip for the hanging tabs for one of them.  Add that to today's "list"!

What I did NOT plan on was this----------

DJ has a lot of problems with his neck---forward neck posture too advance for chiropractic help.   Some time ago he and I collaborated on a neck bracing thing that helps when he is lying down by simulating the width of his fingers under the nape of the neck.  Many modifications were made along the way with the velcro and the width, etc.  UGH---here I am rejoicing from almost being out from under the obligation sewing/quilting and I get "the velcro needs replaced as it isn't holding the insert. Can you fix it?"

UH, thanks for the vote of confidence, Honey.  No, I don't think I can fix it necessarily but I could start from scratch since this thing is about shot.  Velcro is not easy to un-sew.  Don't necessarily "want" to but I will do it.  Because you asked.  Because I love you.  Because I don't want your neck to be hurting.  I offered to give it back to him until I can work out the prototype (and make two of them!)  telling him the decks would be cleared by Tuesday. Wednesday at the latest.  I think I can find some fabric around here to make another fairly easily.   Don't you?  Better check on the velcro inventory too especially if I have to make a store run from a few grocery items.

And sew it goes-------

quiet Saturday morning

Skyler wants to  play!   I drug out his kitty cube a few days ago and he has really taken to it.  He'll get bored with it soon enough and I'll put it away for a time.

Can't find him?  He might be sleeping in there. It also makes a great running spot at 100 mph.  The way he was digging in those back feet suggests that he was waiting for me to approach him from the front so he could leap out at me.  He looked even more silly before I got the camera!

Here he forgot that he could run out the other way through the cube---which he had done several times BEFORE the camera came out.  Possibly he is running out of steam as well.

At the present time he is monitoring the front door for any passing birds and passing baby spiders or encroaching ants.  Gotta love that hunter instinct.  By afternoon he will sack out for hours on end.

Quilting continues----I have had a good week in that area but I am really pushing to have these donation quilts done by mid-week.   As of this writing, I have done-----

• Hot Mess Jelly Roll 1600
• Picnic BQ 1
• Aline's Turning 20
• Triple Rail---did the last 3 vertical rows and binding yesterday afternoon
• started this Faux Log Cabin right after that

I WILL get this Faux Log Cabin finished today!  That leaves just Linda C's two quilts and my two small personal projects in the stack.  The decks will be cleared for piecing/UFO completion.  Yeah, I will need to do the binding on the August piece.  The Belles will help with the binding on the donation quilts or I'll do it but over time.  Too bad I hate the way it looks when I try to machine finish it as an electric needle is sure faster!

And sew it goes--------I am a woman on a mission.  

finished to flimsy

#19 finished to flimsy and also #8 for the Belles Scrappy Challenge. I had 4 rows done and assembled by Weds. evening and finished the last three Thursday afternoon. I interrupted DJ's flipping between the Game 6 of the WS and whatever other show caught his attention to hold it up for the glamour shot. (More on that in a bit, LOL.)

The assembly was more less random. Yeah, you try not to get too "matchy-matchy" but sometimes you just have to swap a few blocks out. I think I only have one spot where the same fabrics actually touch and two spots where they are one strip away from ea. other. IIWII---finished to flimsy. Some spots the lights are not quite light enough for contrast but it looked fine through my door peephole telescoping it down.

A friend asked me on Facebook if those scraps were all in my stash---a good many of them are but there was a good influx of other strips from the Belles challenge bag. Some are really pretty pieces that I would not mind having in my stash for a planned quilt. It is fun for me to look and remember where some of my own came from. Like any scraps some show up everywhere to the point where you are "sick" of them. When we were working on the Pineapple Blossom at the sew-in the girls were commenting on how fun it was to play with someone else's scraps since it meant more variety.

I may get back to quilting a bit this afternoon---I had my Gordian Knot and a donation BQ2 in the stack that did not get done on the last quilting binge. I welcomed the diversion that working on the Faux Log Cabin for Pat's bday par-tay and the pineapple blossom blocks at the sew-in but those quilts were on my short term goal list.

LOL, I need some binding for the next eye surgery next week. I am just hoping that we don't have to get there so blamed early just to wait 2 hrs in the waiting room for a bed and then another hour or so till surgery time. Give ME the satisfaction survey to fill out, DJ. He is at the eye doctors now for his postop check/preop visit so we will see what they say about time and/or what time his surgery is actually scheduled for.

The word on my car: some quarter sized piece of plastic that serves as door between the heat and cooling (that thing you hear go "whooomp" when you turn the temperature dial down) broke off and is missing. Unfortunately, you cannot just purchase the small plastic piece. Ford in its infinite wisdom requires you buy a 400 dollar part. Same as my intermittent door lock problem---major bucks to replace the whole mechanism. No thanks, manually opening and closing it will be just fine.

Of course the mechanic does not have one in stock, you take your chances on buying one from a selvage yard, etc. The part is due in from Atlanta sometime this afternoon and the bill with labor is up to 800 something. YEOW! I wish I could get by without the a/c but that is impossible here in the South. Well, maybe not this time of year with the cooling temps but we would still have to pay the guy for the labor and then haul it back in and pay that part again. We could not replace my car (2002 Taurus with only 58 thou miles on it) for one in as good a condition so DJ said we would fix it even if pricey. Man, I hope nothing else goes wrong around here.

What an up and down game that Game 6 was! I could not bear to watch it though I was following the score on the computer while I watched something else. Stupid errors on both teams part. Pitchers struggling. What a roller coaster ride it was.

When it was 7-4 Rangers in the bottom of the 8th, DJ and I both more or less gave up on it and went to bed. Well, he did anyway; I stayed up and was working the crossword puzzle ON the bed. I did NOT want to see the Rangers celebrating in the opposing team's clubhouse but I did want to know the final score and turned on the set. They were interviewing Lance Berkman----and he was smiling! HMMM did they actually pull this one out? I switched over from FOX to MLB network and saw that David Freese, the Cards 3rd baseman had sent it into extra innings with 2 runs scoring triple (I think that's right) and then hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 11th to win the game. The final score was 10-9 so the see-saw scoring continued and both teams battled back. Berkman had a whale of a game with some very key hits esp. late in the game. I wrote a big note and taped this news on DJ's bathroom mirror so he could see it the first time he got up. Do you believe it??

DJ's grandson and his girlfriend had hoped to go the game 6 and had purchased tickets from someone on Craiglist. They got ripped off for $300. Ouch! Still, it was Josh's 19th bday so a Cardinal win was good even if he and Lauren were not in the stands. He asked on FB if anyone would loan him $600 for tickets to tonight's game. Not sure if he learned anything or was just joking.

So game 7 tonight---anything can happen. Can I bear to watch? Well, it is the last game of the season regardless. Maybe with the sound off and the KMOX announcers. Somehow it is easier on the nerves to watch the highlights later, like knowing the end of the mystery and then looking back to see the process. (I do that too, LOL). Either way I hope they can pull it off. If they don't, they still have had one heck of a ride to get to the Series when everyone counted them out. The team, coaches and management didn't share that opinion. Go Cards!

And sew it goes------

WIP Weds/ sew-in notes

Yesterday was the Bama Belles extended meeting, sew-in day. Jane and I were there early and found the room set up for an upcoming (or just finished?) holiday event. My guess is that they had some of the kids from the cottage they sponsor up from the Talladega Presbyterian Home---- or will have. There was a line of skirted tables right up against the wall where all the plugs are. That will NOT do for sewing day! I don't think we got those tablecloths back on exactly like they had come leaving time but we did our best to leave no traces of our being there. I appreciate everyone pitching in to get it that way.

I had encouraged the girls to work on their own project if they wished but we asked them to make a couple blocks using the Pineapple Blossom pattern. This bunch met and exceeded expectations, LOL. Since we were mostly sewing at individual tables I spread them out so the girls would get an idea of what it might look like minus the sashing and cornerstones. We are using a 4 x 6 set and the table is not wide enough but we got the idea....... and so will you, LOL.

I had scaled down the tutorial to 3 pages of print instead of Bonnie's 13 and passed those out a couple weeks back so the girls could cut the strips to size if they wanted or pull fabrics. I cut a pile of 3.5 inch muslin squares from the group's bolt of muslin so that part would be the same throughout the project. The only other instruction was keep them scrappy or a different fabric in each area of the block. Lois and I brought our pretty packed strip boxes. Aline shared some of hers as well. Bev cut strips to size and had them all separated out into 3 baskets. Wanna guess which ones we tore into first?

Lois insisted that she wanted to go home with an empty 2 inch strip box and she darned near succeeded, LOL. Even though I have a whole box of my own strips to use, I took a handful to use for sashing the top. By the time we were all ready to pack it in, we had 48 blocks done or enough for two tops. I have a stack of blocks to assemble as does Lois. In addition she had made a top at home but will add another vertical row, she said. Some of the girls took muslin and strips home with them to make more--homework. We'll just collect them as they show up till we hit 24 for another. Or the one after that, LOL.

We got Bev set up to quilt her Alabama quilt we helped her pin recently but mostly the 8 of us did blocks but she was really getting in the hang of those blocks too. Brenda helped by cutting in addition to cranking out blocks. That really helped especially when we ran out of muslin squares. I had thought I had cut plenty before hand!

Of course no sew-in is complete without good food and fellowship. That we have in spades!

Mostly I finished up the 7 blocks I had partially done from the last time I made any Pineapple Blossom Blocks but I made a couple more too. Then I got back to my Faux Log Cabin blocks from Pat's FAB par-tay. Monday I had done the chain piecing on the 1st and 2nd column of the blocks. Yesterday I was the last one to put my machine up because I had just a few more of that stack of 35 to seam! I just tossed them in the project box so I wouldn't hold up the clean up detail. They still need to be pressed and then joined.

I have an uneven number so will probably go with the Straight Furrows set. That version is easier to quilt too for a stitch in the ditcher like me. Of course I still have bunch of strips cut to size so the question will be: do I stash those strips BACK into the appropriate strip containers? Or do I make a few Picket blocks (not that I would use THOSE piecing techniques!) or Star Struck Or how about Strip Joint ( ctrl+F GE134) or Buzz Saw blocks which are pretty similar.

Obviously we need to come up with some ideas of how to use our cut strips for the next sew-in day we have in the spring! Bright Hopes maybe??

My car had to go into the shop today---the heat stays on no matter where you set the dials, even on vent. Apparently an intermittent problem because something shut in there and the vent was shooting cool air just as we approached the shop but it did that the other day when DJ checked it too. Anyway, the guys just called and said it could one of two things, about 400 bucks in labor and maybe Friday before we can pick it up. Thankfully, next week is the crazy busy week for me and I will need my wheels! Plenty of time to sew, right? Well, right after I do a little job that DJ normally does for me, that is.

Hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by------