home sew-in

I was supposed to go to the guild "impromptu" sew-in today and tomorrow but elected to stay home and concentrate on sewing here at home.  Minus about 4 hours of driving time, the fee for the sew-in and whatever I spent for lunch/gas.

I had to put my plans for doing "On Parade" on hold as I do no have enough of the background fabric it would require.  I did order something but it will not be here for a few days and I will be busy with something else by then, LOL.  You know I will!  I'll be serging pillowcases  (probably!)  and then quilting those three donation quilts soon enough.

I pulled out something that has been in my storage stack for a long, long time intended for a donation top.  Chances are, I would have been working on something pro bono there.  The friendship block can wait a day or two and requires some hand embellishment.  I will have plenty time to do that at the hospital next week.  This particular quilt kit, a large 4 patch on point with a zigzag setting, was taking up a ton of room since I had the backing and all the extra fabrics stuffed in with it.  I elected to move it along, get it out of there.

In the midst of sewing these ginormous 4 patches I elected to change my mind about the design.  Now I am doing Billie Lauder style Puss in Corner or uneven nine patches alternating the background colors and what fabric will show up in the corners of the blocks.

I think what clinched my decision was a picture of a scrappy one that cycles through on my screen saver but this will be more planned as I had a stack of leftover Oriental fabrics in pinks, aqua, yellow one of the Belles had passed on.

Here is the older quilt from August 2012 but I have made others over the years.  Triple Rails, bowties and Puss in the Corners are often my go-to scrappy quilts.

Well, I have a stack of blocks pinned and ready to feed though the machine so best get back to it!  I can talk about piecing or I can actually DO it.  Hope you have had a good day.  You know where to find me this weekend!

finished to flimsy

On The Boardwalk designed by Anne Wiens, Sweetgrass Creative Designs and published by Quiltwoman dot com.  Most of the sewing was done today and I put the two long side borders on after supper.  The backing is made and the binding seamed.   I did not really follow the designers directions and strip pieced a good bit of this.  It made more "sense" to me to do it that way, but someone else would be fine with the original action plan.  It finished about 45 x 58 inches.

I used just two Debbie Mumm  fabrics in the strips.  and I know this reads as a "tan" print from across our living room.  The green cornerstones and border is also a Debbie Mumm print but some stuff I had leftover from making appliance covers for the kitchen.  The Mumm fabric was donated to my quilt group from an area quilter.  Since there was a good bit of it, I spread it all out at our meeting site and issued the challenge---use it to make a quilt for the kids.

 Here is the stuff up closer.  The yellow, green and pink just sort of blend together in that long shot.

So what to do tomorrow?  I may cut out a version of the other pattern I linked to the other day.  On Parade.  I DO like a combo of fabric that I stumbled upon the other day and think it would be fun to play with.  My pattern shows it with the yellow background version, in the smaller thumbnail.

OR I could do the friendship block (shhhhh) or dig around in the Christmas fabric bin to see what I can find to make a pillow case to put Kristine's tree skirt in.  I did not have time to whip one up before I sent the skirt on earlier this week and told her I "owed" her one.   I am not quite ready to switch out machines again though.  I have 5 machines and do like to rotate using them so this time it was the Kenmore electronic slant- a-matic.  It has a nice stitch even if I do miss a few of the features of the other machines---like being able to change the needle position.  If I am going to make another top, I want to complete it on the same machine.

I'll see how it shakes out in the morning after I read through that pattern, LOL.  For now I will content myself with the fact that I did reach another short term goal and my Belles fabric challenge is completed with a few days to spare.   Can I get a woohoo?  LOL

check in

Bama Belles met yesterday.  Several quilts were pinned, maybe three or four of them.

A few others are waiting---Donna had put borders on her chevron quilt but she wanted to make a pieced back.  Beverly had finished up this wonderful scrappy 3-D bowtie but we were not sure that she had enough batting.  A polyester allergy precludes her getting anywhere neat the roll that we use.

Aline, Jane and I were all working on binding.

Nancy is moving up to the neighboring county and had brought some things to share plus needed me to help her with the join on her binding on a large king sized quilt she had hand quilted.  She also brought in a large pile and bags of scraps that Marilyn and Donna primarily were sorting through.  She had brought "thank you" notes from the family--4 kids and a mom who had recently lost their husband/dad---that we had given quilts to earlier this year.  It was about all we could do to get through reading them without crying.  Nancy was puddling up and handed it to me---like anyone who knows me knows how easily I am moved to tears.  Still, I didn't expect to get those notes in the first place.

Marilyn reported that her church group had gotten 30 quilts completed that will be delivered to a mission field in Mexico.  The Belles had helped by providing some tops, backings, and even had gone over to help.

Earlier Bev had shown a double heart string top she had made and needed a little advise on something she was working on.  Her husband's dead car battery made for an early exit though---that and they had just returned from vacation and needed to do laundry, get groceries, etc.  You know how that goes!

The top here on the right is one that Lois whipped up from a batik kit she had gotten for 10 bucks at a guild garage sale.  She says she has enough for two or three more quilts but I am going to take the extras off her hands---next time.

A few folks were missing as usual for various reasons.  When are we ever all together in one spot though?  LOL  Some of us went over to Panera Bread for lunch. YUMMO!  I had the other half of my sandwich today for lunch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a personal level, Project 1 for the HO HO HO blog hop is just about completed.  Just needs borders.  I got the top finished up on Monday evening.   I had intended to get the borders added today and I still might but I need to rest up and cool off first.

I had a bit of a restless night so when I finally did get up it was about 2 hrs later than I had been rising.  Trust me, Skyler did try to get me up but I was not being too receptive to that idea!

Since I had come home with  cukes, tomatoes, a few yellow squash and peppers I knew I had to do something with that stuff.  DJ had run into our across the lane neighbors at the hardware store and they had squash to share and told me that when I got home.  I have no clue what to do with the banana type peppers that are in the bag and was going to swap the peppers for a bit more squash and left a message on their answering machine.  Meanwhile, Robert came by with several zucchini but did not take the peppers----DJ let him get away too.  I still have them and remain clueless.

That started off another kitchen siege---about 4 hours straight in the kitchen again today.  Worst part is that DJ was trying to replace the weather stripping on the front door so it would close better.    Translation:  no a/c and the sun was beating in that part of the house.   ( Old door, they don't make or measure them the same way, I guess.)  I had the oven on and it just kept getting hotter and hotter in here.  By the time he got the weather stripping in (had to go back to the old stuff as the door would not shut) it had hit 85 in here.  I need to cool off before I even attempt to get in the shower and drive off.   It has dropped to 82 and I have two fans blowing in here to help it along.

So what did I do/make?

• a large container of Easy Refrigerator Pickles.  Nicked my right hand 3rd finger on the mandolin too.  Time out for bandaid break. 
• I grated up several of the zucchini and made two loaves of Mom's Zucchini Bread.  I'll use the yellow squash, some of the zukes along with some carrots and onions for a veggie stir fry along with a pasta dish tomorrow night.
• I put some London Broil in the crockpot for Italian beef sandwiches for tonight's meal.  No recipe I just dump the meat, beef broth, some pepperoncini, sliced onions and minced garlic in the pot.  Had I known if those peppers I have were mild or hot I suppose I could have tossed them in there????
•  I sliced up all the tomatoes though initially I thought I might peel and chop them up to put them in the freezer.  We need some of the tomatoes for the sandwiches though.
• While I had the electric knife out, I sliced up both loaves of zuke bread to quick flash freeze for coffee break time.  I offered DJ a taste but when I said it was zucchini bread he didn't want it.  I had to reassure him that the zukes just made it moist but it was a cinnamon, nut deal.  He took some but made no comment. 
• I made a Mocha Fudge Pie----actually that is the only thing I had planned on actually making this week other than the Italian Beef.    This is actually a recipe from Cooking Light back in 98 or 99 but I did find it online HERE,  It has been a long, long time since we had this.  Seemed like something light for dessert.  
• I have washed and re-washed some of those bowls and such twice today and tried to keep the kitchen cleaned up.  
• I still would like to try cold brewing some coffee for iced coffee--love that!---but need to track down some cheesecloth first.  The paper had an article about this in the paper but Pioneer Woman tells how to do it in this post  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/perfect-iced-coffee/

Would you be surprised to hear that I never did get dressed today?  Oh I put on clean undies but stayed in the nightgown externally.  Why get my clothes full of batter, flour, oil, etc?  I don't care as much about my nightgown, LOL.  Wouldn't you know though---the mail lady honked because I had a package delivery (backing fabric for PRJ 1 was part of it).  Here is DJ minus his shirt and me not technically dressed.  I went out anyway.  It looks like a house dress, why not?

If I can get a bit of ambition after I get out of the shower, I may go ahead and cut the borders for PRJ 1.  I am guessing that I may just finish up the binding on the donation quilt though.  I had one short side and most of the first long side done at the meeting.   I need to show it at guild (we meet on Saturday) in order to get credit for the mandatory donation quilt. My guess is that standing at the cutting table, like more standing at the kitchen counter, is NOT going to happen.   I will start fresh tomorrow and cut out what I need for project 2 while I am at it.  Yep, I have an action plan.  

There is another blog hop starting after the HO HO HO---this one is hexies and yes, I signed up though I almost forgot in all that kitchen flurry that today was the signup day.  They book up quick!  I have a couple of ideas and I know this will light a fire under my rear for one of them.  See sewwequilt.com for details!

Okay, shower---fresh clothes.  

finished to flimsy #5

Done with this yesterday/today's sewing project. #5 of 11n11 challenge

Next up: February Joined at the Hip quilt of the month and a FAB bday challenge piece.

#3 of 11

Just finished my #3 top in the 11n11 challenge plus fulfilled one of my PIF challenge quilts. Makes me wonder how many other quilts are hiding in my stash but I know the impetus was that yard of stripe that I didn't have available to me before.

Not sure what I will do tomorrow in the creative department. I would really like to work on the February Joined at the Hip Button Up (look for BU 2) but I am waiting on some background fabric. I over-dyed some of the fabrics and jumbo rick rack that I DO have here this morning. I will pull the rosy pinky reds for the hearts in anticipation of a start anyway.

Maybe some hand work rather than be hunched up over the machine? That might be a good break.



I couldn't resist snapping Skyler's picture this afternoon as he slept in his window seat here in the sewing room with me. Little cutie patootie enjoying the sun, paw thrown over his face.

You might be able to see from the pic that the snow is basically gone in the front yard. If we hit the 50's as they are predicting this weekend, the remaining bits of icy stuff and piled up snow will probably be gone as well.

Till next time---------

#1 of 11

Tada! Finished the BQ2 top as the last seam was taken while waiting for supper to finish baking Monday evening. I call this one the "pinwheel" set as opposed to the diagonal configurations you might see. You may need to back up and squint to see it. It really stood out on the thumbnail in EQ that I drew up to re-size the blocks. I looked at some BQ 2's on webshots to see how others have worked with the pattern and liked this set the best. I guess it goes diagonally as well but not in the concentrated areas of color that you see on the pattern jacket.

LOL, I just noticed that Skyler managed to sneak in to the shot ( his scratch box is right near that spot)

Pile of binding to press, backing to dig up and back to JATH BOM is today's plan.

finished to flimsy 2

Woohoo! Another finished up donation top. I think whoever gets this one can have fun looking for the matching blocks, finding the pairs. Some have them and other colored fabrics don't.

Not sure what I will work on today, though maybe the redwork Santa at least for a little while. I had been considering working on the purse that I bought fabric for recently but am reminded that I have a purse in the UFO pile that I could finish up first. Not sure exactly I left off with that one---it is a Lazy Girl Designs Towne Purse. Since I used a dark fabric I know I wanted it more for a fall/winter thing. Still, going off on another tangent would be more fun, LOL. I'm all about the fun, dontcha know?!

Speaking of purses, have you seen Lazy Girls newest design that is going to be released next month? Too cute especially if you have some striped fabric on hand--which I do! Try this link.

DJ and I will be going out to lunch in a bit---birthday lunch. I never did pick the restaurant though. I was leaning towards Chinese or a BBQ place I wanted to try but figured I had plenty of time to make up my mind. He heard a new spot advertised on the radio and suggested this place---and I agreed. Hey, any meal that I do not have to cook myself is fine with me. Since this spot is near downtown and our car tags are due with us both in the same vehicle, I think he wants to stop at the county administration building to take care of that.

I was surprised on Friday though. My pal Marilyn had called Thursday evening to see if I wanted to run to Hobby Lobby with her and then maybe over to Olive Garden for lunch, her treat. (She has no problems remembering my bday as I share it with her son.) When we got to the restaurant, 4 members of our quilt group were there waiting for us along with another friend from the Thursday evening group. I knew Marilyn was going to see if two of them could come as one had a birthday in late July and another, later THIS month but this was even better! Another of our pals is even later in August and the other, early September----one big old party!

Nothing much more to pass along----hope you all have a good day in whatever you chose to do.

finished to flimsy

Well, I got it this far anyway. Bridgecreek Blossom, pattern by Terry Atkinson. Approximately 54 x 70

I originally made 24 blocks so I have enough for a 2nd quilt but no more than scraps left of the jigsaw fabric or the blue inner border since I am using it for binding as well. The jigsaw print is directional so when I prepped them months back I was fussy cutting it to try to match it up the best I could. That made for a lot of bits and pieces for the scrap basket. LOL, with all that color the seams are pretty well hidden but I didn't want the horizontal lines jumping all over the place. I'll find something else to use when I am ready to finish up the 2nd one.

I am never crazy to be working on borders but this time it was good to be back at the machine a bit. Not saying that the sewing slump is over but I am thinking about pulling out the triple rail donation top I had started and get some more of it done this weekend. Skyler has been known to get up on the sewing machine table the last two days to cuddle a bit while I was TRYING to sew. I love the cuddles but forget about sewing with his "help" and attention. If he is not laying on it, then he is trying to burrow under it like he does the bed sheets, LOL.

This being the end of the month I totalled up my walking mileage for July ---180 miles! I have been at it since March slowly increasing my laps and normally going 6 out of 7 days when possible. In the last three months I have walked 488 miles, in circles, around the park trail. I had hoped to bump up one more lap but have had to back off of that a bit as I may have strained a hamstring a bit. My back of my left thigh and hip were trying to tell me something and I decided I better listen! I'll try to shave a bit of the time off instead for the time being. I can walk the 2.25 miles in 42-44 minutes now. The other modification to my plan: walk 4 days and then off a day to rest.

They spread some new pea gravel in the washed out spots in the park which I appreciate. Don't want to fall or twist an ankle! Since they do all this in a vehicle there are some areas where you feel like you are walking on the beach in sand and other little heaps and ridges that needed smoothing out or again, you might twist an ankle. When DJ asked me how things went, I told him about it so we went back in later with a couple of rakes. The park maintenance crew was there weed whacking by that time. We both are acquainted with the head guy so we offered to tend to what I thought were problem spots. Of course, if we get some significant rainfall it will shift again and/or flatten out just the way I like it, LOL.

Other than that, we are just trying to keep cool. High 90's are predicted for the next week at least and the weather people are saying August is the "worst month" UGH! I suppose all this heat before was just practicing up. Summer, what do you expect?

And so it goes--------

Finished to flimsy

Here is the view I saw while I attempted to join the top and bottom halves on the donation quilt I had been working. Skyler loves to dive under any protective covering--- a quilt, a towel, the sheets and blankets while you try to make the bed, a piece of fabric, even a quilt block. We ordinarily play a round of "where's the kitty?" but not with quilt tops still in the machine, LOL. He cracks me up! At least he was not laying in the front of the machine this time!



To the right, the finished remodeled top. You know, I did not notice that a block in the bottom row is not oriented the same direction as the others till I rotated the image. Well, it is too late now----IIWII. I had debated about trying to use a rusty colored leftover fabric that I had on hand for cornerstones. It might have worked with the other fabrics but I found I had just enough to use that yardage for backing. Back to the "no stones" plan then. I still pieced it as a pre-sashed blocks rather than line up long narrow rows of sashing. Since I used a tone on tone the seams are not glaring and would it matter a whole lot if they were? I seamed the backing and binding before I called it quits for the night.

It is supposed to hit 90 today--ugh. I believe it, as it was 68 when I left to walk at 8 a.m. I added another lap this past week so I am at 1.4 miles now. I must have sped up to a 5 minute lap because I still only got 25 minutes in, LOL. Some progress, however slow.

In spite of the heat I am going to set up to quilt some of those donation tops. Yeah, I know--hot stuff on my lap. Jane has been asking if I have any done tops done for her to work on binding. Nope, I keep saying in response. Well, that pile in the bedroom is not going to get any smaller. I have vowed that I am not going to pin any of the tops I have ready (3 at this point) till I get something, anything moved along. Two of the 7 in the pinned stack are ones I either assembled or made start to finish so I'll start with them.

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

finished to flimsy

This isn't the best picture in the world but I know better than to hold up the reluctant quilt holder too long. My 12 days of redwork top is completed as of yesterday afternoon when I finished the outer border. I will bind it in the same red as the interior of the quilt. I am thinking about doing some hand quilting in the outer border so it will need to be marked before we pin it. I am reasonably sure I have some heart templates that will work.

The whole project including the backing fabric uses fabric I had on hand. Woohoo for stash busting! I may pass the leftover backing stuff onto my mom for QOV strips just to get it moved along. Moved elsewhere works too, doesn't it? LOL.

The quilt group met today and the quilt shown on the right was turned in. Linda C made it some time back and I quilted it for her--this one and one like it but bigger.

I had some deadline handwork going while the girls pinned. Jane had a sweet snuggle up top Lois has been a busy girl and had several scrappy tops on hand. Apparently both Linda C and Marilyn have been stocking her up, LOL.

Marilyn also "gifted" Lois with a box of blocks that can be used for donation with a little modification or combined with other abandoned blocks I have on hand. Yeah, it came home with me. That is more my area than Lois' I don't mind taking things apart to re-purpose them for the kids. One project has a ton of pieces cut for more blocks along with its templates. I doubt I will make any more as there looks to be enough for our purposes but I didn't toss anything just in case.

We went out to a local cafe for sandwiches and made plans to run up to Boaz next week. Jane offered to drive and Lois is always up for a field trip. Beverly has a quilt to take to Susan, our long arm friend. Me, I am looking for blue fabric for my niece/godchild's t-shirt quilt. I had ordered something we had hoped would work online. Unfortunately it is leaning more towards purple than the almost royal shade of blue it appeared to be--it is called "blueberry". I can use the stuff on another project down the line but I am hoping I will have better luck finding what I need on our little expedition. Of course, lunch at Mill Street Deli will be on tap too.

Once home I made DJ's birthday cake. He didn't express any preference for what kind he wanted what I asked telling me "whatever you want to fix". I started naming off a few things to narrow the field down a bit---banana cake with caramel icing, it is! He will pick the lunch spot for tomorrow and we'll keep things low key. I think he would just as soon forget it but I won't let that happen!

Hope you have had a good day! Thanks for stopping by.

I promised quilt pics

A few pictures from the quilt meeting last week. It was a rainy, cold day and I thought I might be the only one who showed up but the girls surprised me, LOL. Lois' niece who was visiting from Alaska came with her. Another pal who has not been able to come in recent months dropped by with a top for donation even. Since a couple of us needed to make a Hobby Lobby run, we chose the Mexican grill not far from there for lunch. Yummers! Good day and good company in spite of the weather.

The top on the left was made by Aline using a ballerina fabric she found in the donation bin. I love the simple but fun blocks she made for this.

The one to the right is one for donation that Aline's granddaughter made. I can attest to the cuddliness of this one as I quilted it for Leann. The light blue print is flannel and both blues have a cowboy print so it will perfect for a boy, don't you think?


This fan top is also one of Aline's. It was done stack and whack style using a wedge ruler for the cuts. Very striking with the print she used. Gypsy like!


I have a couple of finishes for the week already--woohoo! I did up the February Calendar quilt just in time to hang it for Valentine's Day. Sunday afternoon I quilted up the Sisterhood of Quilters top and took the last stitches in the binding yesterday afternoon. Since I am waiting for the command strips to "set up" for sisterhood, I'll get pictures in a bit and include those in my next post.

I haven't quite decided what to work on today yet but I am leaning on swapping out machines and piecing a bit. Move Cheap Trick/Two of a Kind along a bit or better yet, pull something out of the donation UFO hamper even. That thing is full to the brim so there is no shortage of projects to move along. Since the balance of my quilting life has definitely shifted to my own things, it might be time to put a top or two together. A few things just need sashing or alternate blocks cut, after all.

Till next time then------

Happy St. Pat's

I woke up a bit ago to a quiet house and Skyler curled up beside me. DJ planned on heading out for 9 holes of golf so must have gone? Stayed in bed another 20 minutes enjoying it till I remembered it was St. Pat's and that corned beef needed to get in the crockpot! I had fixed the green dessert stuff yesterday morning when I made a seafood pasta salad for our Monday evening meal. Just in case I pulled on some green socks for the trip to the kitchen just so I wouldn't get pinched should he be reading quietly in the kitchen. Oh so cute with the pj's and bed head, LOL. It turns out that Skyler and I DID have the house to ourselves for a little while. (He's birdwatching in the sewing room perch and I'm posting, still in my jammies)


I got both Twisted Sister donation tops done this weekend. The blocks are arranged slightly differently on both and the reds are slightly different too should they be going to the same location in the future. Since all but one block are in pairs I can imagine a child playing a matching game with them. Both are bright, happy quilts and were the perfect foil for a dark, damp, gloomy and rainy weekend. I had the perfect backing fabric for one of them in my stash filed in the yellow and orange bin. Orange with a lime green squiggle if you remember that one, Mom from the Hancock's sale table -- enough leftover for binding both of them. I used more of that background fabric color for the other one which will also help to distinguish one from the other. Ellen sent a big roll of the gold on gold for the Belles and I to use so it shows up a lot but I have yet to tire of it.


Yesterday I spent some time quilting these two tops for my pal Marilyn for pay. Yep, my favorite 30's repros, LOL. We share that love. She had enough backing fabric of the pink for me to make binding for it. There is a possibility that she will turn the backing to the front to finish off the lilac one. I decided I better run a row of quilting around the edges on it. Essentially I am done with them though and can call her to have them picked up.

6 others wait in my stack. My WTIL challenge top shown HERE is on tap for today. I am not as crazy about the blue on gold fabric but that is what makes that a challenge, I guess. Should I get done what that top, I'll start on the one of other green Habitat challenge tops 2 of the girls turned in at the Christmas party shown HERE. Scroll down to Marilyn's and Linda S's top--that's the ones in my pile that Nancy fired the girls up to pin last week. The only other one in the closet was turned in early in the year. I am not quite sure just how I want to quilt Lois' flying geese in the cabin top that I volunteered for. I don't free motion and this is not one that I want to practice on either. I don't think I want to go in every line and SID either. Any suggestions? Several of the girls have been asking if I have any ready to bind lately. Nope, I am working on some of my own stuff, I have replied. I should be able to oblige when we meet again on the 24th!

That's about it from my house. I'll be the one hunched over the sewing machine and listening to the last chapters of Live Bait by P.J. Tracy. I don't know if the latest developments are a red herring or not but I am sure to find out this afternoon!

vacation wrapup

I have been back from my trip to visit with family in Illinois for week now and up there for one day shy of a week so it has been a bit since I posted. But, no matter---I'm doing it now, LOL. It was good to get away but we are happy to be home.

DJ put me on the plane out of Atlanta on Tuesday and I arrived at the Central Illinois Regional Airport right at the stroke of 1056 a.m. Funny thing is, the flight time is equal to the drive time to Hartsfield Airport so DJ got home about the same time I landed in Bloomington-Normal.

I arrived up at my folks with this view in the family room. The bins were piled up since they normally sit under my mom's cutting/pinning table. She had already told me she needed my help in pinning the 15 tops she had been piecing over the last couple months. BUT a local gentleman had called them to come out to get some fabric that had belonged to his wife who had been admitted to a care facility with Alzheimers. He wanted it to be used for Mom's donation quilt work. She told him she would share with me as I was also involved with the same work. The woman was quite a collector but her husband said she had never made a quilt.

We had a ball going through it and pairing things up for this quilt and that. We had at least 13 stacks that would go for this or that pattern pulling only a few pieces from her stash to go with. Warm Wishes, Naptime, Prairie Stroll, Log Cabin, some new ones we had seen on the internet recently......you name it. We printed patterns off, I worked something up in EQ and all those were labeled with what went where in the scheme of things till she could cut them out. Some of the fabric came home with me already but we will also divide up the leftovers once she cuts the kits out so more will be coming by way.


2 1/2 days later we decided that maybe we better start pinning at least a few of those tops! 11 of the 15 were tended to over the next few days--I was going to DJ's son's house by Saturday afternoon so we had to make good use of the time we had.

I want to share a few of her tops with you. Not sure where the labels will land though. (Obviously I don't have anything of my own to share) Click on the pictures to see them bigger, as usual.

This 1st one is BQ 2 from Maple Island Quilts--cute with novelty prints.



Warm Wishes--free pattern online at the quiltmaker/quilter's newsletter sites. This used the same print I had used in my 9 Patch Pizzazz recently and was a challenge piece between the two of us. Pat showed a bit of it on her blog post a few days ago. She was kind enough to quilt this one for me and will mail it on to M2M.

This was one of two Orange Crush Mystery quilts from Bonnie Hunters recent mystery quilt. Mom had quilted both of them so I could bring them back and mail them off with the others we had teamed up on.

We do love those scrappy quilts especially the ones that use up the strings and crumbs! Here is Mom's version of one that she saw on Jeanne's blog recently. Very striking, isn't it?

Okay, back to the narrative. I got to see my niece/god"child" Allison and my sister who lives in the area mid week so it was not all quilting, all the time. Next time up if I have time, I will definitely try to see my brother in the Kankakee-Bourbonnais area. It just didn't work out this trip.

DJ drove up in the car and stayed a night in southern IL so arrived at my folks late morning on Friday. We went down to B-N for lunch (Schooner's for onion rings and a big fat juicy cheeseburger---yummmy!) Then we drove past some of our old haunts and residences. His golfing buddy came by the restaurant and they got their tee time for Sunday before we headed back to my parents as we had an appointment with someone on the cemetary board.

This might sound a little morbid but one thing we needed to do this trip was arrange for our burial site. Originally we thought we were going to look in Bloomington and DJ had called the three sites so knew how much they were asking for them. For grins and giggles, I asked my dad what the going rate was in their small town---let's just say we got both plots for about 1/3 of the cost of one in Bloomington at the cheapest of the three cemetaries. The spot we have is about 10 feet away from my parents too.

DJ was staying at his son's on Friday and they were off to a basketball tournament near Kankakee on Saturday---see, I should have gone with them and had my brother come get me but it's too late now!! Mom knew I was selling some of my books on Amazon and took the opportunity to go through some of hers. Dad helped bundle the ones she up that she didn't want anymore and loaded them up in the car along with two boxes of fabric. See why I needed the car more than DJ did??



I had made plans to see my brother and his family Saturday evening. They had been at baseball games much of the day while the oldest nephew had a scouting event in town. My sister-in-law invited me to stay for supper and one of my niece's set up the appetizers and entertained us as we dined outside. They have a new puppy to love up on. No pictures though as I left the camera at Tracy's with my luggage on the way over to my brother's house. The kids are growing up, that's for sure!



Sunday the golfers went off to play so I read and caught up with my email, ran into town on an errand. Our grandson Joshua had a double header at his high school so we went in to watch that after lunch. Then back to their house to watch more baseball---this time the professional kind. Go Cards! Josh had plans that evening with friends and we ate in B-N at Buffalo Wild Wings that evening.



By Monday morning the whole household was up and at it early--back to work for Tracy & LuAnn and Joshua is on a summer workout program with all the sports he is involved in. No need for us to wait to get on the road. DJ got the IL and TN driving while I did the KY and AL legs of the trip and we hit the place where Skyler was being boarded a little after 5. I had forgotten to enter their number in the cell phone and we took a chance that they would still be open. Hurray, he got to go home with us too. What a sweet baby he was being last week!



Good to see our families take a break from our routine but good to be back home too.

this one is better

I am going to change my profile picture to show the newbie kitty--need the url for google. I'll also tweak the name of blog to indicate the changing of the "guard" SOOOOOO here is a much better picture of Skyler---yep, that name is it. I like it, DJ likes it so Skyler it is. Think I'll ever get used to saying him, he or kitty BOY instead of her, she or kitty GIRL??


I have cut out a quilt top to make a memorial quilt for Pippi from a stash cat fabric and some donation fabric that I newly acquired. Pam wanted to do this for her and donate the quilt for her quilts for Mexico. She emailed the other day with a link for the pattern she chose to use--her top is done or near done. Isn't that a sweet thing to do? I'm using the same pattern and will sew a bit after supper. I want to see how the Viking is doing for piecing. BTW, my diagnosis was correct--I needed a new bobbin case in addition to the normal clean out and maintenance.
K. best decide what we are having for dinner and get out there to rustle it up.

what you do on NYD, you will do all year long.....

.......so, I was sewing and chatting with Cher and Norma yesterday having our own little online retreat . What we do on NYD we do all year, right? We girls kept checking in throughout the day motivating each other and cheering on progress--what fun! Trust me, I avoided doing a mending project and no ironing yesterday either when finger pressing worked fine for what I was doing. BUT I didn't warn DJ in time when he went after a cobweb he has spotted. If he wants to clean all year, I will let him! Bless him, he had vacuumed up the sewing room mess when I left to walk the day before.

The project I chose to sew on yesterday served two goals for 08--it was a donation quilt and it was something from my UFO hamper (my old clothes hamper and it is stuffed to the gills. Well, there it is at the foot of the table with Pippi's wool throw over the top of it ). One of the Belles had two strips of Pioneer Braid done but was not going to be able to complete the project due to an upcoming move. She gave it to me at one of our recent meetings. I started three more strips as my sewing project yesterday. No way, no how, was I going to be quilting, cutting or working on binding---do my first love instead. Before I hung it up for the night. I had gotten 20 of the 27 strip additions done on them. I'll finish up the sewing today.

Earlier in the day I also made 11 rail scrappy rail fence blocks from some of the braid strips Ginny had cut since it was the exact size I needed, rectangles 2 x 5. I planned on augmenting those with a pile of shorter 2 inch strips I had pulled for an ongoing Pineapple Log Cabin. I briefly toyed with the idea of working on those simultaneously with the braid but that would require paper piecing tools laid out on a crowded sewing table. Try a few separately before I put the remaining strips away.

When making some backing the night before, I had cut some 3 1/2 inch squares and whipped up 4 3-D bowtie blocks before I started on the Braid bands. A fun and productive day all the way around!

I decided this past fall that I will make scrappy rail fence blocks and 3D bowties as an ongoing project from scraps of my works in progress. This is often from backing cutaways or from cutting a strip to use up the last of the yardage on a piecing project and so forth. When I get enough, I'll put a donation top together.

You see, I don't have a scrap basket at all, not after spending three full days cutting early one year! There may be a few chunks sitting around waiting for the next time I am cutting but that is it. I don't let them pile up or become enough to bag up anymore. Like a lot of us stashbuster devotees, what I maintain is boxes of cut, most commonly used sizes of squares or strips instead. I can always dip into those when I am ready to augment the rail and tie blocks. Often I drag them off to our quilt meetings to share if a block I have chosen for us calls for a particular size. Want to do a faux log cabin--no problem, help yourself to some strips! Another one I want to do is Short 'n Scrappy Project 3, Ducks in a Row from Claudia's Quilt Shoppe but in scraps. She did this as a BOM several years ago and I have been looking at the printouts in my files.

After looking at Norma's cool color catcher top, I looks like I should consider piecing some strings too. Don't you just love quilts that are hiding in your scrap bag all along?

I have been noticing that other bloggers are into cleaning up and reorganizing their sewing rooms and other living spaces as well. I did that too but no on NYD! One day last week I could not find something that I needed that I just KNEW was in my pull out hodge podge/file drawer of my desk. That led to shredding, clearing and filing stuffed away papers at about 8:30 at night. Then in order to get into bed, I had laundry to put away but had to shoo Pippi off the pile of sweaters and shirts first. The spot in the armoire where they belonged was in disarray. Let's those to make a better spot to put the clean ones away.

But there were t-shirts in there too---that led to reorganizing and tossing from the drawers below and spread over to the blanket chest as well. I really didn't mean to start on the closet, not at that late hour. It was close to midnight by that time but I was on a roll. I've lost enough weight to wonder what might fit now and started trying on my old clothes---yahoo, welcome back old, friends and some things are about 20 some lbs away from fitting well but I'm getting there. Some stuff from last year is way too big now and is headed to the thrift store--even better!

By that time I was hot, sweaty and too wound up to sleep so I started looking at some of the quilt magazines on my bedside table, under the table and in a magazine rack. Why was I keeping these things when there is possibly only one thing I would consider making?? So, another pile or two started-- intact magazines to go to the Friends of the Library and the rest, ripping out what I wanted. Should do that in the sewing room area too but not ready to part with those quite yet.

Finally by 2:30 in the morning, I was ready to turn out the light and go to sleep. Made for a short night when Pippi got me up with kitty kisses at 6:30 the next morning but at least the storage areas in the bedroom are cleared out. I would drag the pinned quilts out of the closet where I can get at them a little better---or least a few of them--but we may have house guests by month's end so best kept behind closed doors for now.

I don't know about walking today--I need to after taking the holiday off but it has gotten frigid out there. 19 when we got up though the sun is shining. When the breeze picks up, I am sure you could calculate in wind chill factors. DJ has told me to see about using the indoor track at the community center in the town north of us and take his checkbook to pay whatever the fees are--a fall back for cold and rainy days. I would rather walk outside if I can in the local park so will see how it is this afternoon and dress accordingly. 40 lbs gone as of this morning since last March. A bunch more to go but I am not dwelling on numbers, instead I plan to continue on the path I started in 07. No back sliding!

stashbusting my way to another top

Hot off the press--the top using the leftover blocks and yardage that Finn sent. I showed the 12 blocks I sashed and cornerstoned in yesterday's post. I had the 4 Ohio Star blocks done yesterday and today worked on the snowballs. I had pulled some greens out of my stash for a few star tips; when I went to put them away, I noticed a piece of peach colored tone on tone that might go with the blocks---5 of the block had a hint of orange or coral so it looked like a good choice. The white on white is the same piece I used for the sashing on yesterday's Ohio Star top but actually it is leftover yardage from those SEC quilts I was commissioned to make last fall. I did not want to cut another strip for just one block so I seamed the white on the bottom block from the end fold. Seems like someone is always wanting blocks WOW . My stock is low so I still have a strip about 14 wide by 90 long for another use. Not sure where that peach piece came from but there is are only a few bits of it left for the strip boxes.

I stitched up the cutaways from the diagonally flipped corners for the snowball blocks so have a nice pile of HST's to trim down for something----maybe include them in the orphan block pile I came up with when I was cleaning last weekend. A green floral Debbie Mumm print with white lilies of the valley I had intended for binding on another quilt a couple years back has finally found an appropriate quilt. Plus I had enough of a green scribble on white background leftover from a Hancock's closing sale purchase to use for the backing.

There were some pretty 4 1/2 inch squares left that were cut for block centers and some background fabric left but I'll set those aside for another use. Nine patches or something ?

Done stitching for the day----

Best laid plans.........

I "overslept" this morning---lately with the summer heat and trying to get my walking in early, I have been getting up anytime after 5 but usually no later than 6:30. That is not easy for a confirmed night owl to do. An "up and down" night made me awake with an "oh no!" when I spied the clock. But walking was not too bad---it is just enough overcast and a bit of a breeze is blowing with temps about 70. What a blessing that is!

I thought I would share some pictures of the crepe (crape?) myrtle trees that are just starting to come out. There are four total in our yard. This red one is probably my favorite, colorwise. When we first moved here 10 years ago, it appeared to be a fairly recent planting and it was growing as "crooked as a dog's hind leg" as DJ would say. It spent some time getting staked up. The kudzu, of course, is the greenest thing around but the yard has shaped up considerably with a bit of rain in early June. It has been a little spotty at our house lately with other areas getting some measurable amounts. (The bare patches on the yard were once fire ant mounds)

Still, voluntary water reduction made no difference in the town's water tanks and our little burg is now under water restrictions--several towns in the county are since they estimate us to be anywhere from 14 to 20 inches behind on rainfall totals. This ban won't effect DJ and I much since the two of us use well below the gallon uses before they would tack another 40 bucks on the water bill. Having said that, we will do our part in the home/yard just because we ALL should conserve that precious resource, drought or not. Off the soap box---that would require rinsing, no doubt, LOL

Two white crepes greet you at the entrance to the lane---one is tree like. The other, small--DJ and I had to reclaim it from the kudzu vines our first fall here. The pinky/purplish one really looks skimpy this year but truthfully, as dry as it has been, we didn't much expect any blossoms.

Somewhere on the page, the Rose of Sharon in the back yard that has a bunch of angel trumpets and day lilies underneath it. Rather an odd color mix with those pinky purplish flowers but it gives DJ something to look at while seated at the kitchen table. To the right, his pampered princess, lilac bush. Those are not native to Alabama apparently so he has to augment the soil, fertilize etc to even get it to grow. He mowed last night but needs to weed whack!

Rose of Sharon blooms up close. You know that there is an appliqued quilt block named after these. It does look like this bloom. The park where I walk has white ones but they are not out yet.












So anyway, in spite of my "late" start this morning I quickly sorted the laundry and got that started, did my walking and ran a quick grocery errand for a couple items needed for the next couple days. Actually I was half considering what the supermart would have thought if I just grabbed a cart and walked for 40 some minutes really fast as it felt so cool and climate controlled in there---I could grab the produce quick on the way. Several laps from one end to the other and front to back might do it?? Took the pictures on my return and started my post. Nothing exciting but hey, I can live without that.

Speaking of excitement (read: expense) we can do without--- the a/c problem from Sunday? Believe it or not, it was caused by dead ant bodies. They are awful this year with the drought but who knew they could cause this? Apparently the contact points inside the switch attract them. They all follow each other so the gap is filled up with more and more of them. The a/c repair guy said that roaches will do the same thing. Now that DJ knows this, he can keep on eye on things. As for the vacuum cleaner I may have ruined (third time the card has been electrical taped, after all), he did some minor repair but I believe we are in the market for a new one--at least pricing them for now and tracking down a "Consumer Reports" best buy recommendation first.

On the quilting/piecing front: I have a small basket with quilt kits stuck in it that I intend to work on over the next month or so but it was packed to the gills. Some of the "packing" is the other half of the blocks from Nancy's donation this spring---they were twin sized and we can get two quilts for the kids made with those. (One quilt I cannot bear to re-size yet and the group had some other suggestions for it that we will re-visit). I re-assembled one top yesterday, bordered it with some fabric from my stash, found a neat border stripe of undetermined origin (all I know is that I didn't buy it, LOL) that I cut on the bias to set it off and then backed it with yardage from my muslin bolt. Silly me, bought 36 wide so everything takes two widths of fabric. I washed and ironed about 8 yards of that yesterday---my low back is NOT happy with me. Who knew that ironing could be injurious to your health? I knew I didn't like doing it! Now Pippi thought it was great!!! I could not keep her off the fabric as I pressed it--the teflon coating on the pressing board was nice and hot and the muslin smelled nice and clean. Met the kitty criteria anyway.

I had missed Judy's post about the July challenge till I read it on Mary's post ( behind on reading-- again)---guess I just met some of that challenge criteria and didn't even know it! I had started on a 2nd set of blocks last night--the body is back together; the border fabric is pulled and pressed so I'll pick up with that one. Time to check the dryer.............the stuff that life is made up........

a treasure trove

DJ came in yesterday with a large box addressed to me from our blogging friend Nancy. What a treasure trove! I thought briefly about NOT opening it till I got to the quilt meeting on Tuesday but you KNOW that wasn't going to happen---too curious about the contents. Nancy had shared some pictures of a few of the completed tops in her April notes so I will refer you to her blog.

How lovely to see these tops "in the flesh". There are also a few UFO's that can be completed as well as a lovely piece of green circle fabric that can be for me personally or the kids. I think Shelina has some of this as well? Wow, it goes really well with the greens I brought home from Hancocks earlier in the week so for now it is stacked with them. Backing fabrics too which will really come in handy. I thank you again on behalf of the Bama Belles Quilting Club for your generosity, Nancy. These are going to make some really cool quilts for the boys and girls we serve.

I had to laugh a little bit ago. I was seated with ripper in hand taking apart this top (borrowing Nancy's pic so I don't have a picture-less post.) DJ stuck his head in the door and said "you are supposed to be putting those together not taking them apart!" True, but it is a large quilt that Nancy probably intended for a full to queen sized bed. Normally we shoot for tops in the 40x 60 to 50 x 70 range--so 4 x 6 with 10 inch blocks and the nice border she used will be perfect but I need to rearrange some of it slightly. And even better, get two quilts out of the one top. I can rummage up another fabric for the borders on the 2nd one to make it a little different, should they go to the same spot.



I have been quilting the past few days as planned. Wednesday I finished up the BQ I had been working on and got most of a staggered dropped squares top that Aline made with Thimbleberry fabrics that will be perfect for the boys that evening. Yesterday I finished up what remained of that top and did another BQ for Theramae. Pictures of those once the binding is done. Today I had planned on doing the Building Blocks I had made at the spring sew-in but discovered it had a small pleat in the back so half of it will need to be re-pinned---it can wait till meeting date. I DO have one other one that I could do--my Beetles shown partially done HERE---that can wait till tomorrow.
I'll see what odds and ends will need to be done with a few of these treasures to get them ready for the meeting and pinning. I know the Bama Belles will be excited to see these! For right now, I have a long border to remove.

have ripper, will sew

In recent days I have been tagged for the "Thinking Blogger Award" by Darlene, Patti and Judy that I know of--I'm a bit behind in reading. Thanks so much for the "shout out", ladies. I just keep plugging along doing my thing but it is nice to be noticed for my efforts on behalf of Wrap Them in Love. I've been active with the group since the fall of 99 and consider it my mission to use my time and talents to make quilts for children in need. I don't know that I will tag anyone as I consider you all my inspiration and would not want to leave anyone out. Also, some who would have been my picks have already been tagged and some more than once.

Just a comment though in response to what Darlene and Judy posted. I DO make my own stuff just not often or most of my stuff is not finished. Until we get to the goal for the quilt numbers we need it will remain that way. Normally by late summer/early fall then I can pay a bit more attention to personal projects. This past year my time got sucked up doing commissioned work before Christmas. I'm not complaining though as that helped pay for a new sewing machine!

Okay, what are you looking at here? Warm Wishes, hot off the press. The link will take you to the full sized bed pattern but HERE is the crib sized version. Sorry for the blurry picture--I may need to invest in a tripod if I can't take a clearer picture than that. It is an old pattern used originally for Project Linus some years back but for some reason I never had made one---till now. Beth commented the other day that she was planning on making one too for a neighbor and from her description this one was in the same colors, more or less. I'll be interested to see how similiar they are.

Definitely busting stash on this one. The dark gray and white are leftovers from the aforementioned commissioned SEC quilts. The Dalmatian fabric is leftover from one of the Belles quilts from a few years back. The gold tone of tone? Well, I use that often and had a far amount of yardage from Ellen, the founder of WTIL---a fabric company donated two different colorways but that gold is my fav piece.

I wanted that Dalmatian fabric gone so I pieced the backing as well but this time found a use for the gold with the uggy red vein that is also part of that same fabric donation. Click larger if you dare, LOL. The first time the Belles and I tried to pin a quilt that had a back pieced similiar to this we had to move that thing six ways from Sunday trying to center it. It was starting to get frustrating for the ones at the pinning table but a little funny too. We eventually got it figured out and the quilt turned out beautifully. Lois has done the sort of pieced back since, a couple of times so I don't think it will be much trouble now. I know, I know the purists would tell you to center the seam down the back etc but NOT for donation quilts and NOT when that means moving the quilt on the pinning table more than you need to. Start pinning in the upper left and take from there. All we worry about is directional prints and that the piecing seams do not land where the binding might go.

The piecing went pretty quickly on the Warm Wishes though we had an afternoon power outage of about 90 minutes. Oh, I had a few rail blocks that were turned the wrong direction and sewed one row on backwards. Have ripper, will sew after all. Better too that I caught it while still stitching. I had a block turned the wrong way dead center of the quilt on the Beetle top. You know I switched it back to where it should be.

If I were to make another one though, I would follow the instructions that my little voice had tried to tell me when I cut and kitted this thing up. Make the strip set and however wide the thing measures, that is the measurement to use when you sub-cut it into squares. Mary Ellen Hopkins works that way---it makes sense. I don't know if I had mis-cut the strips or am still working out where to set the seam allowance on my Brother but they should have finished 6 inches---it didn't.

This is going to sound like I am a perfectionist or anal retentive but I trimmed the dalmatian blocks down. I know that they could have been fudged in as they were not off but 1/8 inch or a hair more. The beetle top I just finished ? I had cut all the black squares too small. I used them anyway but in some cases where I had chosen to offset the undercut squares left me with too little a seam allowance and having to zigzag the seams to keep it reinforced for the wear and washing stress the quilt will receive. Double sewing? No thanks. Didn't want to do that again so soon.

Other than that---a surprise birthday party to go to yesterday but I had also gone to the "faux" one Thursday evening hosted by the quilt group in an effort to throw him off. Several of the Belles were there so we got to visit a bit. Walking was out today due to the cold, blustery, windy weather. We had hoped for a bit more rain that we received---many of our bushes are drying up on top due to the lack of rain. We are some 8 inches behind on precip totals so far this year. Some stuff he waters but the established plants and bushes he doesn't. Not a lot going on this week and I'll be back to quilting once errands are run tomorrow. My usual Monday, in other words. This is my 2nd stab at posting this---hope this time I don't lose it--my fault, not blogger, sorry to say, LOL.

checking in

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. In a previous post I spoke about how this came about and showed our wedding picture. It does not seem possible that we have known each other for about 29 years! How did that happen?

The mums are one of my presents--there was some lovely green paper on the pot but I had to take that off when I put some water in the pot. Pippi is enjoying one of my other gifts---it is pretty cuddly, after all. Baby blue polar fleece top, hooded pullover with pocket and Eeyore on the front. It says "BORED" on the front. That is a bit odd as I am rarely, rarely bored. I think he liked the color and the hood part, LOL. We went out for catfish--about the only time we go to this particular restaurant is for a special event or when visitors come from out of town so it was a nice treat.

I have been sewing a bit the last two days as I really did not feel like quilting though I did get one done for my pal Marilyn on Wednesday. The fabric I ordered for the commission t-shirt quilt is NOT here yet--a week later. I pulled out some blocks that Pam had sent me that Nancy had shared with her. It was my understanding that Nancy did not care who had the blocks as long as they would be used in a donation quilt. And they will be.

I believe that the blocks may have been from a centralized swap at one time. I kept finding labels on the back of the blocks as I squared them up---thought that might be a good idea when things came from more than one sewing machine. There was a goodly number of pinkish/brown framed four patches that I set aside for their own special quilt which will be set a bit differently. Below (or somewhere) on the page is the top that I finished up this morning. There were a lot of

blue and green blocks---maybe that was part of the swap plan or just that the block makers had a lot of those colors in their stash at the time. A few teals and purples worked in as well---I just tried to distribute the color evenly throughout.

The 9 patch blocks are some that Carolyn and Ada made at the fall sew-in from my 3 1/2 inch squares and strip box. How about that?--stashbusting and I didn't even do any of the block sewing, LOL. Even the muslin alternating squares were cut from backing cutaways. I really thought about setting these in a more enticing way but since I already had the squares cut, thought I best use them. Naturally, I overcut the number of squares but the leftovers can be used for heartstring blocks. I marked the blocks as I joined the rows in a simple 3 x 3 grid but didn't prep any quilt backs or binding. It can wait and I'm having too much fun assembling.


Tomorrow? Borders on two tops that Jeanne shared with the Belles probably. Fed Ex better be getting here one of these days!!

Guess that's it for today-------