A Bit of This, A Bit of That

I really need to get my sewing room under control and I think the only way to do that is to finish things. In an effort to finish one project, I have been working with my leftover triangles again. I got them all sewed together into half square triangles units. Got all of those trimmed up and put them together into Broken Dishes blocks and then added them to all the blocks I have made in the past. 

I saw a quilt somewhere online using rows of blocks of various sizes. It had either grey or tan as strips in between those rows. I counted all the blocks and figured out how big a quilt I could make and it was going to be pretty big so I adjusted and decided to make two smaller quilts, thinking they would be easier to sell or give away or something. I sewed the blocks together by size into strips around 45-50" long and took them to work to lay out on the floor. As I laid them out I was talking to my boss about the upcoming Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner and Talent Show at the church and she mentioned having a silent auction also. I offered to add a quilt so I picked up what I started and took it all home to adjust the lengths of the strips to something more like 70-80".

Here is a picture of the rows hanging on the drying rack after pressing.

 Here are the rows laid out at work. As you can see the rows varied a lot in length depending on how many blocks I had of each size.

I took a few of the blocks to the fabric store to see what I could find for the 'in between' and my favorite was an apple green. I added green to each row to make it 85" and then put 1" finished strips between the rows. Here is a picture of it on the floor for basting.

I backed it with a barn red flannel - a king-size duvet cover that my husband got at a garage sale for $5 last summer. Here it is all finished and hanging at the church. 

I did a medium stipple using a variegated green thread. Here is a picture of the two smallest rows. There are 4 little 1/2" Broken Dishes blocks and then a strip of 25 - 1" blocks.

Tuesday was craft night next door and Sally had Linnea's quilt finished for us to see. Isn't that a cool panel?

Linnea also brought her quilt from Mary from one of the previous exchanges. Mary hadn't been able to finish all the blocks and get it put together so we didn't get to see it at the reveal and then Linnea brought it one night to craft night but I wasn't there so I asked her to bring it so I could see it. It is quite beautiful in person!

I finally finished my grandson's baby quilt. He is now 7 months old!

It was made from blocks I cut out of the quilt I made for his mommy almost 30 years ago. While pregnant I had embroidered the 12 old-fashioned babies on a piece of pale green fabric. When I had them done I just quilted around the embroidery and then between the babies. It was a pretty boring quilt though she loved it. When we talked about a quilt for her little one I suggested redoing her quilt and she was open to that. She told me she likes the 30's prints so I got some and cut 2 1/2" squares to frame the blocks. When I cut the blocks I left the original hand quilting around the babies and just cut through all the layers and used them that way. I machine quilted diagonals through the small squares and added another round of hand quilting about 1/4" out from the original. The back I used was fabric I purchased in Sitka when I visited my daughter when she was in college and I thought it was appropriate since little Karl visited Sitka when he was just one month old.

I have had everything done but the label a month ago but just didn't get to the label. Finally this week I wrote out a label and got it stitched to the back.

I have pulled out my denim now and hope to work my way through that next. That would mean at least two large bins will be emptied and I should be able to get rid of some backs and batting that has been given to me too!

I am hoping my next post will be an update on denim quilts.

Minor Setback

My recovery had been moving along quite nicely and I was feeling great! Then on Tuesday morning, after a not so great night's sleep, I woke feeling rather crummy. I tried going into work but only lasted 2 hours. I came home and went to bed. After a few hours of napping I didn't feel any better so I called the doctor's office and got scheduled for an appointment first thing in the morning. That appointment was followed by a CT Scan which showed fluid built up in my abdomen so now I am on some serious antibiotics and we will see what happens. I am feeling better so that is a good thing but now everyone is telling me to rest! Do you know how boring that is?

I have spent a little time sewing but not much. I did manage to get three bindings finished before it got just too hot and got the blocks done for a baby quilt. Here is one possible layout.

I need to send the pictures of layout options for the baby quilt to the person who ordered it so I know how to put them together. Today the quilt for the Margarita Party will be delivered and I just need a hanging sleeve on the one for the Bluegrass Festival and that can be delivered also. 

Did you notice that the baby quilt is made from the leftover HSTs from the Margarita Party quilt?

Today I hope to finish the last binding and maybe get that hanging sleeve done while I watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I do need to find something else to do work on or I am going to go stir crazy!

Less and Less Triangles

I am getting close to the end of the triangles. In the last 4 days I have made close to 120 broken dishes blocks! Those 120 blocks started out as 960 individual triangles! They are now all pressed and sorted into bags according to size - 

it is so much easier if they are sorted as they are made instead of when you want to use them!


I only have really big triangles left and I think I will cut them up into a square and 2 smaller triangles as I am not as excited about the look of bigger broken dishes blocks! That will probably happen today.


On Wednesday when I was done with my batch of triangles the weather wasn't too bad so I went out and started pruning the last two apple trees. I got as much done as I could without hauling the ladder out. Thursday was even nicer out so after some morning sewing I hauled the ladder out to the trees and finished the pruning! Yesterday after triangles I went out and pruned the grapes and after hubby got home and got the lawn tractor started (dead battery) we got all the apple branches and grape vines on the burn pile and disposed of them. So our big purchase on date night last night was a new battery! Such exciting times!


The shower door is now installed and today I will do the touch up painting and then hubby will caulk around the shower stall and we can call that project done! We still have trim in there to do but why should that room be any more complete than all the rest of the house?


I am plugging away on the frog eyes and now have 3 quilts finished. I would love to have the last one done this weekend but not sure that is happening. I want to get the labels on and get the quilts delivered!

Retreat Recap, part 1

Home again! What a great weekend! Not rested, but happy. 

My drive across the state to the retreat was uneventful, though I did get to have lunch with my sister, Karla, and our friend, Teena, as they were returning home from some meetings. Great meal and fun conversation. I had been worried about snow on my drive but I didn't have to drive in any until I turned down the drive to my daughter, Becky's, house. Had to climb into the back of the car to find my boots so I could even get out of the car. We had a fun visit talking a lot about their upcoming move back to our house so she can work on finishing their tiny house on wheels while her hubby is out on the road. 

Headed over to the retreat in the morning and got set up and started sewing. My first project was getting all the quilting threads on the HP quilt taken care of. As I was working on it I realized that the last 4 or 5 blocks I had quilted had poor tension so I ripped those out and will redo them today. Everyone loved the quilt and I was able to sell quite a few drawing tickets at the retreat. I also ended up selling one owl hat and getting an order for 5 more so I will be working on those in the coming weeks.

I saw a tutorial last week online for a folded bag and just had to try it so that was one of my early projects. (Lynn T, if you are reading this I am supposed to tell you that you are not allowed to try this yourself, Jill is making you one!) It is made from 2 squares of fabric, sewn together and turned right sides out, top-stitched and then folded and turned and fluffed and you get these. 

Mine is the second from the left on the bottom row. I really liked it as a thread catcher while sewing. Karla and I were going to make some scrap catchers like this but these folded bags are so much easier and practical that we went with these. Karla made 4 of the bags in the above picture and a couple of other quilters in our group each made one for themselves. These were all made from 17-18" squares.

Others came up and saw the bags and wanted to make some for themselves so I said I would do a little 'thing' downstairs and teach them too so they all started getting their squares cut in preparation for the next morning. I wanted to have some samples of a couple of the steps ready for the morning so I started a couple bags to give to my grandkids when they arrived the next day. I only had 10" squares of fabrics they would like so I went for it. I was so tempted to finish them to see how they would turn out but instead I cut another couple of fabrics up and made two little bags out of 8" and 9" squares. They are the cute little strawberry bags in the front of this next picture.

When I got up the next morning I dug out all the extra fabric I had in my piles and cut out whatever I could for bags and made the above baskets. We had much discussion about all their uses and determined that the 8" would make adorable little egg holders for Easter and the 9" could hold sugar packets at your table. The 18" ones are great for small potted plants and a 20-21" will hold a square box of tissues as you can see in the above picture. The biggest one there is a 20" and has a tissue box in it. One of the best  things about these bags is that they fold flat so are easy to store when not in use. I am hoping these will be a big seller at the quilt show and at Relay for Life. I have lots more fabrics I can use for them.

When I headed downstairs to the other quilting room there were at least 10 people who learned to make the bags. One person used corduroy which I think could be great for a larger bag made from maybe a 36-45" square to be used for dog toys or baby toys on the floor. Someone else used flannel which is so nice and soft and would be great in a baby's room for holding socks in a drawer or cotton balls or pacifiers or almost anything!

One of the ladies is an amazing quilter and embellisher and she had fun with her bag. You can see the front and back here:

I think that many of the bags will be made in the coming weeks by a lot of the quilters for selling at bazaars, using in their own homes, giving as gifts, etc. I know I am going to get more done in the coming days and weeks.


Well, I have much to do before Saturday's quilt show so I had better save the rest of the retreat recap for later!

Things Happening

I am finally feeling like I might get some things finished! And also get some new things started.

I got the 4th frog quilt quilted and the binding is waiting for the hand sewing. I decided to go with the polka dot eyes or at least I made enough for one quilt and I will put them on and see what I think. If I need to I will take them off and try something else. I am hoping I will like these so I can get these done! My plan is to work on those quilts between commercials tomorrow, you know, while those crazy men are running around the field and knocking each other down.

I have an order for 5 owl hats and another for one so I am working on those when I am not feeling like sewing. I should have those done this next week. I am working on so many and need so many different colors of yarn I had to step up to a bigger basket.

I am having fun with new color combinations! I want to have a bunch done for the quilt show on March 10th and even more done for Relay on June 1-2.


My Relay for Life quilt this year is going to be a Harry Potter themed quilt. There are tons of paper-piecing patterns online and I am really looking forward to this project. My plan is to make two quilts - one for Relay and one for me to give as a gift or sell or whatever. 


Yesterday and today I got my first three blocks done for the star block round robin. I have had one of them since Halloween and the others for probably 2 months. I was inspired to get these done and out of my sewing room because I brought 4 packets to my niece from my sister's house and she is the person I come after! I am sure the person after me will be much happier to get these three now instead of all 7 at once! I had fun making them and it is so frustrating not being able to post pictures of them until the reveal sometime later this year.

Surprising Request

Last Saturday I received a call from the quilt guild president. She said she missed me at the last meeting - I wasn't able to make it because we were looking at houses with my niece who wants to buy her first home. She also asked if I would be interested in being the next guild president as she thought I would do a good job. I was a little flabbergasted, to say the least, as I am a pretty new member and haven't really been that involved. I briefly considered but declined explaining that I didn't think it was fair to take on a commitment like that when I so often miss the meetings because of church or family obligations which will always come first. It was very flattering to be asked and if I thought I could be at every meeting I would consider it. I think it would be fun and rewarding. 

In case you didn't hear, we have had a nasty patch of weather here in the Pacific Northwest. At our house we got about 6 inches of snow but luckily our power only flickered a couple of times. Others have not been so lucky with snow totals ranging from 4" to close to 2 feet! The snow in many areas was followed by rain which froze when it landed causing an ice layer. This caused trees to fall which knocked out power all over the area. The temperatures have risen and the rains have come (along with some wind which has resulted in more power issues) and the snow is slowly melting which will bring the new issue of flooding! Just can't win for losing as my dad would say.


I chose to just stay in the house all week which resulted in the completion of those two owl hats but also meant they did not get in the mail or delivered! That should happen this week. I also got orders for 5 more hats so I have started working on those.


Taking advantage of the time indoors, I finally got to work on getting all the business information into the computer so we can get our taxes taken care of. As of last night I have finished through July - not bad for one week of work! Why do I always leave it to January to get busy with this?


Yesterday I went into the sewing room and got the third frog quilt quilted and got bindings on #2 and #3. I am feeling like I might actually finish these!


I am heading out tomorrow to visit family across the state so I will bring the quilts and hats and their respective supplies with me to work on while visiting.

Installation

I don't know what happened yesterday but I didn't ever make it into the sewing room! I did get the garden roto-tilled one more time and finished the mowing so if I don't get those jobs done again this year it should be okay!


I did get the hanging sleeve sewn on the largest of the quilts for the show. I need to finish up the last two today since they need to be at the show tomorrow am between 8 and 9. I got a call from the guild member in charge of volunteers for the show and I am now signed up to help set-up the show tomorrow and then on Saturday I will be turning quilts (not sure exactly what that means) for 1/2 hour and selling raffle tickets for two hours. Then I think on Sunday I have to pick up the quilts again.


My husband had a slow day at work yesterday so he went to work on the plumbing and cabinet adjustments and by evening the new vanity was in place.

Now it isn't totally ready to go. The water is hooked up but Hubby didn't have ABS cement so the drain isn't finished. The top drawer needs one of its rails reattached and the vanity also isn't attached to the wall and the sink isn't attached to the vanity so that we can pull it out when I paint. We haven't been able to find a hickory medicine cabinet, just a mirror so hubby might replace the oak on our current medicine cabinet with hickory. 


Today I plan to get some paint samples to help decide what color we want and then we will start taking everything off the walls so holes can be patched and then I will paint! Then we need a new light fixture, shower curtain, drawer/door pulls, tp holder, etc. Oh, and there will be two new doors and trim that needs to be taken care of. We might have it done by the end of the year!

Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop 2011

It has been a busy week around here. Didn't spend much time in the house though. Monday I had a number of errands to do but I spent a little time out in the berry garden first. Tuesday I spent the whole day outside working and then it was craft night.


My niece, Katie arrived in time for craft night and in the morning we headed out bright and early to start our shop hop road trip. We made it to 17 stores before closing time at 8 pm and then drove a couple of hours back home. Yesterday we headed out again to be at our first shop at 9 am when they opened and made it to 20 stores before closing time. Thank God for GPS to help us find all the shops without too much trouble.


We made a few purchases on our travels. We each bought a couple of paper piecing patterns from one shop. They are from MH Quilt Designs. We also bought some fat quarters. But if you want to make it to around 20 stores in a day you can't dawdle!


We were still frustrated by some of the blocks we got from the various stores. Not sure what some of the store owners are thinking when they design them!


We saw several quilts we thought were pretty cool. One was an awesome applique quilt but I held back from buying the pattern since it is all hand work and I have so many hand projects waiting for completion. Though I am thinking I will order it because it is just too hard to resist!


Another quilt we saw is called Geese Atop Your Cabin at Gee-Gee's Quilt Shop in Yelm. Katie and I both saw it when we used the restroom at the store! When we got out to the car I asked Katie if she had seen it and she had so she pulled out her graph paper and colored pencils and drew a block so we wouldn't forget it. Today we decided to make one or two blocks to try a couple of color combinations. I sewed and she pressed and trimmed and here is what we came up with:

As you can see in the last picture the triangles are just folded squares that are caught in the seams. I am pretty sure there will be several of these quilts in my future. Probably the first will be using up some of my 1.5" strips and using either black or white for the centers or triangles. After that will probably be a black and white quilt with various bright colored triangles and centers.

Catching Up

I am back home and almost recuperated from my time as a single mother of 2 little ones! I had a great time with the kids but boy do they wear you out! Their parents had a good time in NYC though it was too short (for them, not me!). I decided to make a detour on my way home to my sister's house to help my niece celebrate her 18th birthday. I even had the honor of making her pirate duck birthday cake.

I left there at 8 AM on Saturday and got home about 1 PM and fell on the bed exhausted! After a little rest my husband took me out to dinner and a movie.

Yesterday it was church in the morning and after a second cup of coffee I got two more quilts basted and ready for quilting. Today I hope to get at least one quilted and maybe two. I would like to have all three done before the quilt show on Saturday.

Here are pictures of the quilts I've gotten finished since the quilt retreat. I got the quilting done while my granddaughter was here and finished up the bindings while watching the kids at their house. This first one is a baby quilt. The large squares are made from some golfing bear fabric I have had for a long time.
This is a fun wall hanging from the book Dare to be Square. I am sure I will make more from this pattern.Here is another baby quilt. This one is an adaption of the Chatterbox pattern in the Dare to be Square book. I used some sock monkey fabrics that were given to me a couple of years ago. And lastly, this is a table topper made from fabrics my daughter gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. It will be on the trunk we use as a coffee table in our living room. It is another adaption from Dare to be Square. Well, time to get busy at the quilting machine!

I'm not slacking

I have been working on various projects but nothing too exciting to photograph.

So far this month I have finished 14 pairs of mittens and have another pair almost done (I just need to weave in some loose ends of yarn). I am enjoying making these as they just turn out so cute!

I got Linnea's quilt basted, quilted and bound and I have the label ready to embroider and attach. I will have that finished by Tuesday when we have our big reveal! We are all getting pretty excited about that!

I also put a binding on a quilt that someone else made. She just wasn't sure how to finish the quilt off and asked me to do it. I used the extra backing fabric I trimmed off for the binding strips so all I put into it was a little thread and 3 hours of time.

I got an email notice from an online fabric store about a sale and ended up buying about 65 different 1/2 yard cuts of fabrics that read as solids in various colors. Last week my daughter went to her local quilt shop and bought me another 45 different fat quarters of the same sort of fabrics since they were having their annual fat quarter sale. All of those pieces should definitely fill out my stash some. It was really lacking in some colors after recent projects. I also got a couple of new quilt patterns online so I am excited about getting started on those.

But first, I have to get all of our business' invoices, deposits, checks and parts orders into the computer (I just finished the February stuff this evening) so our tax return can get filled out so there won't be too much sewing happening yet this month. My only sewing deadlines for this month (once Linnea's quilt is done) are two blocks for the Flickr QBE and quilting a baby quilt for my daughter.

Switched to mittens

My sewing room has been out of commission for about three weeks and once those quilt labels were on I had to find some hand work to do. While at our oldest daughter's celebrating Christmas she gave me some yarn and a crochet hook saying her kids needed some mittens.

When my kids were little I made many pairs of mittens for them using a simple crocheted mitten pattern that easily adapted to any size. I didn't have it with me but she found a similar pattern online here so I got started. I finished a pair for each of the grandkids before I left her house and got another pair made on the drive home. Since we had our little princess with us last week at our house I wasn't going to get started on anything else so I continued working on mittens and got several more pairs made. My plan is to use up all my yarn and some from my daughter making various sizes of mittens to be given to charities next winter (unless I get enough done this winter). I will post pictures of some of the mittens in the next few days but I will leave you with a picture of The Princess in her dancing clothes!

On Wednesday my son and I headed to the east side of the state to get him moved into his new apartment at college and to return The Princess to the bosom of her family. Got him moved in yesterday and then today. a couple of hours into my drive west the car died. I got it towed to an auto repair shop and found out it needs a fuel pump. Since we have two tanks and two pumps and the shop wouldn't be able to get a pump until next week my husband is heading over her this evening and we will try to make it home tomorrow by keeping the tank between 3/4s and full. On our side of the state the fuel pumps are readily available and my husband gets to fix his car on his own.

This next week I need to get the quilt basted, quilted and bound for my friend and get my house cleaned for the arrival of our new couch on Tuesday.

More eating than sewing!

Our son and his girlfriend arrived on Saturday and we have been having fun spending some time with them. She is from South Korea and has spent the past year going to school at WSU. She will be going home next week so we are trying to enjoy the time we have left before she goes. They have made dinner for us a couple of times. Here is a picture of one dinner.

This is called kimbap and is not something you would find in a restaurant but is more like a sandwich. It was very tasty and I am hoping to learn how to make them as I think it would be a great dinner for hot weather.

This evening is Advent soup supper at church and the kids are at ZooLights so they won't be making dinner today and I think tomorrow I will make japchae for dinner which is a Korean meal that my mother learned to make back in the 70s and when I made it for Peia (the girlfriend) for her birthday last month she said it was like at home.

I am still working on the 'guy' quilt for the little princess. Just have the buttons to get sewn on. I am going very slowly since I am not a huge fan of sewing buttons on! It will get finished though!

Last week I made a couple of sets of these little numbers for my two 'drinking buddies' for Christmas.

They are coasters for stemware. They also work as glass markers as long as they are all different. I made them out of scraps and just cut squares until I had 6 that sort of went together and then put them together. I plan to make more for a bazaar table at the next quilt show.

Last night at craft night we didn't get any crafting done once again. Instead I brought over my birthday cake - a from scratch German Chocolate Cake - my favorite! That along with 11 batches of Chex Party Mix was yesterday's cooking project. Today I made peanut butter fudge and orange creamsicle fudge. Both are quite tasty! I am hoping to give most of it away so I don't end up eating it all. So far I haven't gained back any of the 25 pounds I have lost in 2010 and I hope I can keep it that way and then in 2011 I would love to lose another 15-25 pounds. Then I will finally have lost the baby fat - 21 or so years later!!!!!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yep, it is my birthday today but I think it will also be a busy day for me today. Got word last night that our son and his girlfriend will be arriving tomorrow and staying for a bit over Christmas break so this means the sewing room needs to be 'broken down' and turned into a guest room again. It also means that all the lint and threads from all the sewing I have done for the last three weeks needs to be pulled out of the corners and from under the furniture! And the dust!!!!! House cleaning has not been a priority the last few weeks! Okay, let's be honest, house cleaning is seldom a priority at my house! It's a good thing it is just the two of us and a 5 pound poodle so the mess doesn't build up too quickly!

Last night was the bazaar. I really did have quite a few doll quilts, wall hangings, table toppers and baby quilts along with a few larger quilts that I was able to pull out to sell. My niece added some little zipper pouches that she made up that can be used for cosmetics, toiletries, etc. to the table. I did take the time to make some pillowcases this week. I cut out 22 and sewed up all but one (I discovered there was a small piece cut out of the end of one of the pieces so it couldn't be used). They are sew easy to make and it was fun decorating the cuffs with some ric-rac and lace.

My strawberry quilt top was sitting on the sewing table so I also decided to make up a back and get it finished for the bazaar. Unfortunately, my work was for naught as I didn't sell anything though lots of people thought the pillowcases were nice. Katie sold 5 of her pouches so it wasn't a total waste. I did get a good bit of the binding sewn on the 'guy' quilt while I listened to Katie's students caroling so all was not lost.

I finished another secret project this past week but again, that picture must wait until after Christmas.

I am thinking today will involve creating a back for Linnea's quilt (due Jan. 4) and getting it basted. At least then it is ready for quilting after Christmas. Tomorrow after going to the food bank to help make up the Christmas baskets for families in need in our area I will get the house cleaned up a bit in preparation for company. I am guessing we will be putting up the tree tomorrow or Sunday so there will be some furniture rearranging to be done also.

2 Blocks and 1 Finish

I received these two blocks this last week from QBE over on Flickr. This is a fun group with month-to-month commitments to make up to 4 blocks for others and then receiving up to 4 blocks from 4 other quilters. If anyone is interested in joining us, just head on over and you can play too. I just finished posting the participants for December but sign-ups for January will start right around Christmas.

Well, due to circumstances beyond my control (customer phone calls for our Appliance Repair business) I only got one of those quilts quilted on Monday. I started on the second but had tension issues (the machine, not me!) so I decided to start fresh on Tuesday! The quilting machine worked like a charm yesterday so I had two quilts waiting for the hand-sewing on the binding. Last night at craft night I got this quilt finished off except for a label

so I will be able to get it to my son's girlfriend in time for her to take it to her mom when she goes home to Korea in January. I got about halfway around the second quilt so hopefully I can post a picture tomorrow or even later today!

Yesterday my first quilting customer came by with her two quilts and I got them both sandwiched so I might be able to get one of them quilted today. Not sure on that since I have several things I have to do away from home today too.

My new book arrived at the post office yesterday but I didn't pick up the mail until after it was closed so I will have to run down today. It is just as well since my customer needs her quilts back in a timely manner and I would be tempted to work on the three quilts instead of quilting!

Keepin' on

I was pretty busy this weekend. I got the quilt quilted and the binding is just waiting for the hand-sewing. I also finished the blocks for the quilt for our Tuesday evening quilt swap done. I might get the top done this week but as that one doesn't have to be finished until January 4 I need to put it away while I finish up a couple of other things.

I also sewed together the triangles that I got from my friend at the retreat. I have them pressed and ready to be squared up. I will get them together in groups of threes but I can't go too much further until my fabric arrives in the mail to finish the blocks off.

Today I had a frustrating day with no internet all morning and lots of call to make but unable to get through to our health insurance company to ask a couple of questions. AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!

I did get the triangles all trimmed up and ready to go. I also got the first package of fabric to go with them but need the other two since I need to make just four more HSTs so I will end up with 48 blocks.

In between calls I also got this tote bag cut out and this evening I got the outside put together. My hope is that I will get the lining put together tomorrow and get the whole thing finished too as long as I get the right length of zipper for the top. I just love the Kiwi zipper on the front pocket!

It is finished!

The quilting is finished! the label is getting started and should be finished and on the quilt today. One whole day before the wedding. Must be some kind of record! Pictures will be posted on Monday!

The Big Weekend!

It's here! I head out this morning to get things started. Today I will be food shopping with the bride for the dinner and dessert and probably for her head piece and then heading to my sister's house. Tomorrow I will spend the day finishing the quilt. Yes, I think I should be able to finish it!! Friday I head to the camp to start baking pies and preparing the lasagna. And then the fun begins!

one top done

Here is the top I made for my cousin in North Dakota. She said she wanted green but that brown and tan were okay too.This pattern comes from Judy Martin's book Scraps and is called Grandmother's Scrapbook. It was a fun one to make and turned out so well. I went to my LQS and got a back for this quilt this week so as soon as that wedding quilt is done I can think about getting this quilted.

I am working away at the wedding quilt but it is only a week until the wedding! I did finish another phase of the quilting today so it feels a bit closer to completion at least. After next Saturday I will be able to post a picture of the quilt, done or not!

I also started working on cleaning up the sewing room so it can be used as a guest room next week for my brother and his wife who are coming from West Virginia for the wedding. I sorted through all the leftovers that other quilters at the retreat last weekend dropped off at my workspace. Some will be added to my triangle collection or my scrap bin but some will be used as projects on their own. I will be spending Monday and Tuesday getting that room and the rest of the house a little tidied up in between hand quilting sessions and on Wednesday I head out to get thing ready for the big day.

Plugging Along

I continue to work on the wedding quilt. I finished enough quilting on the quilt to put on the binding this week. Now at least the edges are finished off. I have 6 more weeks to get the quilting finished and I might just get there if I keep focused.

Keeping focused on the wedding quilt keeps me from getting much else done but I can only sit so long each day so this week I got some cutting done on a project for my quilt retreat next month and I am thinking about what else I should bring along.

I did get these 4 blocks made for the Quilt Block Round Robin on flickr.

I hope this week to get some receiving blankets and quilt tops made for Lutheran World Relief.

Just when you think things will calm down, they don't! Last week went by so quickly with going to work 4 of the 5 days. Saturday I did manage to get the wedding quilt basted, in spite of not having good supports for the frame. I also got some work done in the yard, starting to prepare for the two Sky Chairs that will be delivered on Thursday by Oli, our UPS guy. Here you can see where they will hang from the flowering cherry tree.
Since this picture was taken I have whacked back the forsythia bush there in the middle but I still need to dig it out. I might try transplanting it elsewhere but we shall see! The large clump of day lilies on the right will be dug up in the next couple of days by some friends for their yard.

My husband is continuing work on the garage roof and on Sunday we took a trip to the dump with the final load of roofing and the 5 cans of junk I didn't want out of the greenhouse. We got rid of a total of 1320 pounds! On the way home we stopped at Home Depot for plywood for the roof since we had the trailer anyway. Once we were home I got busy outside and mowed some grass and took care of whacking back that forsythia and then I cleaned out the flower bed around our little wishing well. I dug everything out so I could get rid of the weeds and just put back the peonies. It looked pretty sad so I ran into town and got some pansies and violas to fill in.

Yesterday I had an appointment at the doctor to get some warts removed that have been driving me nuts on my right hand. He froze off all 13 of them and boy did my hand hurt yesterday afternoon and evening! Even though I am left-handed, it is amazing how much I use my right hand! Today it is doing better as long as I don't touch any of the spots. I am hoping I can do some hand quilting while I watch TV today! Unfortunately it is cooler out today so it would be a great day to dig out that forsythia!