The Final Schnibble!

Talk about getting in just under the wire.  I didn't think I'd be able to get this done by the deadline, but I just (and I mean just) finished the last A Year of Schnibbles Schnibble - my Plan C!!  Woo hoo!

A couple of notes about this quilt.  First of all, when one reads directions, one should actually digest the directions.  I looked at the photo and thought stars and 4-patches...how easy is that!  I did read the directions and then just went on my merry way and made 6 star blocks.  Except the directions clearly say DO NOT PUT STAR BLOCKS TOGETHER, but instead put the quilt together in rows.  After unstitching the six blocks, I put the middle of the quilt together with no problem.  I was glad to learn on someone else's blog that I was not the only one to do this - LOL!

My next problem came when I put the borders on.  As the photo clearly shows and the directions again clearly state, you are to save four 4-patch blocks for the outer corners.  When I got to the end, I realized I had way too many "piano keys" and no fabric left over for the 4-patch corners.  Phooey!  So, I had to go with the piano keys all around.  You can bet if I make this quilt again, I'll have all this down pat.  In fact, I could teach a class!  o:)

Still, I love the quilt - I think the Prayer Flag fabric is really shown off nicely in this quilt.  I have had a lot of fun since I joined this Schnibble club.  And, this won't be my final Schnibble, that's for sure.  There's lots more of these wonderful small quilts to make.

I can't wait to see what hostesses Sherri and Sinta come up with for the next year of ...whatever!

I Had Good Intentions....The Clamshell Report

Being the last day of the month, my Clamshell Report is due.  I did have good intentions, taking all those clamshells with me on vacation.  I was sure I'd have time to stitch a bunch of them together.  Didn't happen.  This trip just seemed to be a whirlwind - it was go-go-go all the time and when I wasn't going, I was napping!  But, I did get a bunch of clamshsells prepped during the month and now have a total of 55 done (including the few already stitched together).  Okay, well, that's not a huge dent in the 600-some clamshells I need to make the quilt, but I'm thinking of this as more of a long-term project, like I hope to get it done in my lifetime.

Because I like to do some prepping and then do some stitching (I'd get bored just prepping them all at once), I decided to take a few pieces from each of the charm packs I'm using to prep so I'd get a good variety to work with.

I'm liking the new basting glue pen I'm using - the Collins Fabric Glue stick - it's billed as a water-soluble instant basting adhesive.  $1.99 on sale at Sew Thankful - can't beat that!  I ordered a bunch of them, but I think I'm going to need a bunch more.  I have a feeling basting 600+ clams is going to take a lot of glue.

Next month I should have a lot more to show!

We're Back!

Well, we're back.  What an exhausting but wonderful trip!  I have to say, last week wasn't as hot as it usually is in Walt Disney World in August.  In fact, Sunday night and some parts of Tuesday were a bit chilly (well, that might be an exaggeration, but I know I had goosebumps a couple of times!).  It was the cloud cover that kept it from being stifling most of the time, and the rain wasn't even too bad.  By Saturday though, the sun was hot and it was boiling, so I was quite glad to get on a plane to come home!

One of the first things we did was have a girl's tea at the Grand Floridian.  Very fun!

The boys had fun too...

Son Bill, of course, had to get in on the action, he loves being the center of attention...here he is onstage (on the left) at the Hoop-de-do-Revue.  Good rollicking fun!  I don't think the smile left my face the whole night...

The first two nights we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge...it was really amazing to see sights like this out your window when you woke up...

Ariel...with Ariel!

As I mentioned, it rained sometimes...

But luckily, there weren't too many faces like this...

All in all a wonderful trip with lots of laughs, good food, and family time!  Hubby and I are going back after Christmas (but don't tell the kids o:) )

So, did I get any stitching done while I was away (remember, I took all those clam shells)?  Stay tuned....that report comes out tomorrow!

P.S. - only came home with 6 new pins!  We've still got some room on that Disney pin quilt o:)

Behind the scenes...

Still autoposting here.  I thought I'd share something fun I did last summer.  Last year was a banner quilting year.  I got to go to three quilts shows, the Machine Quilting Exposition in New Hampshire (all by myself I went to New Hampshire!  I'm still amazed I didn't wind up in Chicago or something.  I don't typically travel by myself o:) )  But one of the most exciting things I got to do was go to a taping of Mark Lipinski & Jodi Davis' Quilt Out Loud show!  They were doing the first live audience show at a local quilt shop, Byrne Sewing Connection.  Happens to be where I bought my beloved Bernina and my sewing table.

I'd never been to the taping of a show before.  It literally lasted all day.  I think we were there almost 8 hours while they shot about 4 segments.  About an hour's worth of show  Wow, does it take a lot of stops and starts to tape a show.  And Mark and Jodi were fabulous as were the guests.  I've met Mark a few times (he lives not too far way from Phila), and he's always a hoot.  This is one of the flyers he signed for me with his signature tagline "Quilt Naked, Cupcake".  Not likely!

Here are some shots from the day.

Getting things set up to do a segment...

The fabulous pattern and fabric designer Michele Scott (aka The Pieceful Quilter) doing her segment...

 Instructions!

The audience.

There was even a craft services table in the back (I mean snacks.  See, I know the lingo - LOLOL!)

When they were taping, the AC had to be off because of the noise.  Now, this was July folks.  Let's just say we were all glowing!  And, it was kind of funny because it was the holiday show they were taping, so some of the scenes had Christmas decorations and Mark & Jodi were in Santa hats, and some in the audience were in shorts & sandals!

Boy was it a blast though.  I thoroughly enjoyed the day. I even won a prize.  They gave away most of the items they showed in the "What I'd Like for Christmas" segment.  And I won Ami Simms wonderful book, Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece.  The quilts and stories are very moving.

I hope they tape another show in the area.  I'd go again in a hot minute - even if it does take all day.  It was fun to watch when the segments finally aired and tell everyone, "hey, I'm on TV", well, on the internet anyway.  o:)

Kenny's Flea Market Finds

Since hubby usually comes home with some quilty something or other (along with the rest of the junk stuff) every Saturday when he does his yard saling, I thought I would do a "Kenny's Flea Market Finds" post to share the items (Flea Market Finds sounded better than Yard Sale Finds, I thought - LOL!)

Last week he came home with this set of wooden spools of thread.  These are probably not very useful, because I'm sure they are fairly old, but the colors sure are gorgeous!  I may put them in a jar and just set them on a shelf in my sewing room....

 Yummy!!

Some Disney Quilting

Since (hopefully, since I setting this up to autopost) we're in Disney World right now, I thought I'd show a quilt made with what might be the most expensive fabric in the world - LOL!  A few years ago on a Disney (of course, what else?) Cruise we were on they had silent auctions every night.  And one of the items was the most fabulous fabric that was used as vests for the servers in one of the restaurants.  Well, of course I had to have it!  Apparently, someone else had to have it also because there was a bidding war going on!  Luckily, DH was on a mission to get me this fabric and he won!!!  I'm not sure exactly how much he wound up bidding - it's about two yards of fabric - but I know it was waaaayy more than your $9-10 per yard for quilting cottons.  But, oh, it was mine, all mine.  But, what to do with it.  I hoarded that fabric for a few years (in fact I'm hoarding the remainder still).

We (meaning my husband), starting collecting Disney pins.  We have a ton of them now.  What the heck do grownups do with a bunch of Disney pins?  Why, put them on a quilt of course!  I got the bright idea to make a Disney Pin Quilt with that awesome fabric I was hoarding.  It's now hanging in our bedroom.  It's not full yet, but I've made dear hubby stop buying so many pins - I said he's only got the rest of the quilt to fill with pins then he's done and it has to last for his whole life - LOLOL!

As I mentioned, I set this to autopost, so I hope we're having fun.  And, I hope Kenny isn't buying too many pins.  o:)

And we're off! (Well, soon anyway)

Well, it's almost time to leave for vacation and I've come to terms with the fact that this is all that is getting done on my August Schnibble.  Here is the middle of my Plan C.  I'm really happy with how it turned out using the Prayer Flag fabrics.  I think it was a good choice for this pattern! 

I'll finish it up when we get back.  This heap is what I've gotten done on the border strips so far...

It was a valiant effort, but I'm just letting it go!  It will get done when it gets done! Jelly Roll Sampler quilt will also get done when it gets done at this point.  I got the last block done, but never even got to choose the fabric for the sashing.  I do think I'm going to do a piano key border using all the fabrics though.  Shouldn't take too long.

So, even though we are leaving tomorrow, I took today off to tend to the million + 1 things that need to be done before vacation.  Last minute odds & ends, shopping, needed a new pair of sandals, cleaning the house, on-line checkins, etc.  And I thought just maybe I'd get a few minutes to sew a few stitches today too.  What I wasn't planning on was breaking a tooth this afternoon eating a piece of chicken.  I just kept looking at the piece of tooth in my hand saying "this didn't really just happen, did it?"  Yeah, it did.  And it hurt.  Couldn't drink anything, way too sensitive, couldn't eat and even breathing in air hurt.  I was on the phone to my dentist within about 30 seconds.  Luckily he took me immediately (one of the perks of going to the same dentist for 23 years, you get great emergency service).  The whole office knows our family is going on vacation, so they took good care of me.  Of course, now I'm looking at a new crown when we come back but at least he put a strong temp on the tooth so I can eat and drink with abandon (good thing, as food and drink are a BIG part of this trip o:) )  

So, we're off to one of our very favorite places....

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!

The whole gang of us.  We're thrilled to be able to take our whole family this time.  Even though they (except grandson Rick) are grown up, they love Disney.  Us too.  o:)  Here we all are on an earlier trip...

Here's hubby with his idol, Walt...

And being silly with son, DIL and DGS...

And here we are are having some fun with the characters...

And with daughter Ariel (no, not named for the mermaid) at the Tree of Life...

Okay, so I definitely have Disney on my mind...but we're really looking forward to this trip. Our son & DIL have had a tough year with some medical issues and some other sad things, so we're really glad to do this for them. So, I'm hoping that my broken tooth is the worst of our problems as we fly from the hot heat & humidity of Phila to the hotter heat & humidity of Florida. Mickey, here we come!!!!

Projectus Interuptus

As I mentioned in my last post, this summer seems like it has started to fly by all of a sudden!  I think because I had a list of quilty things I was going to get done this summer and it's looking like that's not going to happen.  I had it all planned out and now it feels like it's all just blown out the window.  Why?  Because we're leaving for vacation at the end of the week and by the time we get back, summer's over!  One of my goals set in Spring was to make a "summery" quilt this summer.  I guess I'm going to have to say Beach Cottage was my summery quilt because that top is done (though not quilted yet).  However, I wanted it to be Seaside Cotillion...

No the greatest photo of the quilt pattern, but it very lovely.  Really.  So, I started, as you see above.  Made all of my strips and even got two of the blocks done.  I was very organized, had all the strips laid out in order on my cutting table so I could easily put them together to sew my blocks.  Then I realized, OH MY GOODNESS, it's August!  Before I go on vacation I need to not only get my Jelly Roll Sampler block #12 finished, but I've got to get the whole top together so I can put it in the contest!  And, I've got to get my A Year of Schnibbles August quilt finished.  It's not even started.  I don't even have the fabric for it.  So, I hop right on the internet and quickly decide I'm using Prayer Flag..I've got to tell you, I am loving this fabric for my quilt...

I'm doing the Plan C Schnibble this month.  The other choice was Short Story, but I'm doing the larger version of that (already have the two layer cakes of Sultry by Basic Grey) in Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles Times Two book, and I certainly don't have time to make a larger quilt at this point!  So, Plan C it is!  Luckily, I had the fabric in two days and started right in.  However, that meant that my grand plan to catch up on my Snowbound BOM by making 4 blocks in August also flew right out the window.  Along with quilting Madeline, Joy Luck, Cameos and Beach Cottage.  (I also have to fess up - I won another gift certificate in the A Year of Schnibbles contest for Joy Luck - this has been most lucrative - LOL!  Not only am I getting all of these awesome quilts that I probably wouldn't have made, but I can keep buying more fabric!)  Also, off the radar until fall is the Dresden Plate quilt that has been itching to go from my mind to fabric.  Even got the handy-dandy EZ Dresden Ruler and this lovely Lecien fabric - Flower Sugar.  On clearance no less!

(Turn your head to the side now - sorry about that!)

I am quilt-stressed.  As I said, we leave at the end of next week.  And I have to work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.  Last weekend, as I mentioned not one stitch got sewn.  Putting aside everything else, I still have to get the JRS quilt put together and my Plan C Schnibble top completed and posted before I go.  Now, what happens if they don't get done and I don't post them?  Nothing.  I just don't get to be in the contests that month. (And I probably should be in either because I've already won two prizes in Schnibbles and a prize in JRS).  Not the end of the world, not even a big deal.  Except I hate to have committed to something (even in my mind) and not follow through.  But, it really remains to be seen if I do finish.  Because things like, oh, maybe packing for the big trip, definitely have to take precedence!  Stay tuned!

The Saga of the last Jelly Roll Sampler Block #12

We're at the last block in the Jelly Roll Sampler quilt-along - already!  Wow, that went fast (as has this summer, but that's another post).  So, I dutifully print out my block from Konda's Moose on the Porch blog.  Now, I've also been following along with (but not yet making) another Jelly Roll Sampler block quilt-along from a shop in Cornwall, England called The Quilt Room.  I've been printing out those blocks every month too.  I really, really liked the August block from The Quilt Room and thought, I may even make a whole quilt out of that.  The two patterns sat in a pile in my sewing room for a week or so.  Then I realized I'd better get in gear and get the Moose on the Porch JRS quilt block done before the deadline.  So, I pull out the pattern and remembered, hey, I really liked this block - cool!  I cut and stitched it up Monday night and admired my (very orange!) handiwork.  Love it!  Really do think I'll make a whole quilt out of this block someday - just probably not so orange o:).   Put your sunglasses on for this one...

Then, the next night, I'm all set to start my new August Schnibble (because it's now the 2nd week in August already - yikes!)  Then, I'm looking through "the pile" and see the real Moose on the Porch JRS block pattern.  Uh oh, made the wrong block dang-nabbit!  I'm on a bunch of (self-imposed) deadlines sewing-wise right now and I lost a whole night's sewing making the wrong block (as much as I love it).  This is the REAL block...

Okay, so now what do I do with my very orange Quilt Room block?  I really, really like it, but it will be hard to fit 13 blocks in a quilt.  And I am certainly not using it in another quilt, because all that orange would blind you, and besides, it's in the fabrics that all of my Moose on the Porch JRS blocks are in.  Do I leave out one of the JRS blocks that I've already done?  I don't want to make any of the blocks feel bad.  Or have one of the designers think I don't like their blocks.  Dilemmas, dilemmas.   I'm going to have to ponder this one o:)

Pets on Quilts Contest

Here's my entry for SewCalGal's very fun Pets on Quilts Contest!

As I mentioned in my last post, I can't lay a quilt or piece of fabric on the floor without Lilly getting into the action!

Here she's modeling the Tessellating Cats quilts (this is the closest Lilly has ever been to a cat).  This quilt is probably 13 years old now and was made in a class held at my LQS.  I remember taking the class because my husband and daughter had their "Indian Princesses" camping weekend that weekend and I thought, perfect opportunity to take a quilt class.  Any quilt class.  And this was it!  I remember it being a lot of fun to make the quilt and I collected different fabrics for the "balls".  Some are scraps from friends and just looking at them brings back nice memories.  This would make a great gift for a kitty-loving friend, but I would have to make another, because I just can't give this one up o:)

Now, I want to run on over to SewCalGal's blog to see the parade of pets and quilts!

Gone to the Dogs!

It must be "pet month" around blogland, I've already found two contests involving our furry friends and I just couldn't resist!  First, the wonderful Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs is hosting a pet contest, so I had to submit a photo of Lilly (no, she really didn't drink that beer o:)...

The photo above is just a gratuitous shot because I think she's so stinkin' cute.  Ahhh, puppy love!


Then I found out that SewCalGal is hosting a Pets on Quilts contest.  I'll doing a separate post on my entry for that.  While you can choose to enter a photo of your pet on a quilt or a pet-related quilt, I chose both options in one as you'll see!  Now, the quilt I am entering is a cat quilt, but I have purchased lots of fabrics to make dog quilts, just haven't gotten there yet....here are two stacks of fabrics just waiting for the inspiration to strike to make them into the perfect quilts.  These are just fun....

 And I fell in love with this beautiful toile and coordinating fabrics...

I love seeing quilt models of the canine or feline variety. Every time I put a piece of fabric or a quilt down on the floor, Lilly's right in the middle.  Either just sitting there looking regal or rolling around around on it.  I don't get that, but whatever.  Maybe she really, really likes quilts???  On my unexpected day off the other week, I thought I would use part of the time to get some backs together for a couple of tops and captured this ....

Well, it's now after 7pm on Sunday night and no sewing has gotten done this weekend yet at all. But, it was (or is that, was not) for a good cause.  We just got home today from a day at my aunt's house lounging by the pool, eating great food and enjoying being together (the whole family went, even Lilly who had a ball) .  Yesterday, I did some pro bono work all day with a group called Wills for Heroes Foundation.  I just found out about this wonderful organization the other week from a paralegal association I belong to.  I found out that after 9/11, it was found that many of the first responders who lost their lives did not have wills and this organization was started in response to that need. The organization was hosting an event in our area for police, firefighters, EMTs, and their spouses/significant others to have Wills and Powers of Attorney prepared for them by volunteer attorneys and paralegals who specialize in trusts and estates work.  It was busy, busy yesterday (talk about trial by fire, being so busy and with not quite enough volunteers for the day, it was pretty much "just get started" after our two hours of training for my first time)!  But, so very rewarding.  I got to help a number of really wonderful couples and felt like I made a bit of a difference.  What a wonderful day it was and I am looking forward to my next event - on 9/11 of all days.