The Hurrier I Go...

...The Behinder I Get!

My Gramma Maple used to say that all the time. She used to say alot of fun things. And most of them stuck in my mind. I guess I need to write them down before I really forget them. Sister Sue, we need to make a list.

Anyhow, I wanted snow. For 4 days the weather people had been telling me I was going to get some snow by morning. Why do I beleive them??? It took long 4 days to get here. I'm not complaining (no, really I'm not!) It is so pretty. I love to look outside and see the beauty. I have little birds that come on my deck for their treats. I hunker down, make soup, keep the fire going and do what I want to do. I am lucky, I don't have to leave my house.

I would like it to stay nice and pretty. Melt slow and be pretty. My darling hubby thinks otherwise. This is a time to play on the tractor. He gets to play on heavy equipment all day at work, why does he need to play at home! But I'm not complaining because I need to get out of my driveway tomorrow. Well, it's not the getting out that could be a problem, it's down hill, it's the getting in that makes me nervous. You see, I'm only a fan of Slip Slidin' Away when it isn't happening in my car. {I would add the utube thingie bobber that I linked to but 1--I don't know how and 2--I am on dial up and while I am typing this post, it still hasn't loaded on my computer!} Oh how I love Simon and Garfunkel!!! I am going to go buy myself a CD and remember the good ole days.

Next Tuesday I get to have carpal tunnel surgery. I really am kind of excited to have it done. I've been practicing doing things with only my left hand. Talk about hilarious! I won't go into details cuz you really don't want to know!

I'm trying to get my quilting obligations done. I'm in a birthday block swap and the first ones aren't due until the middle of March (we are a small group) but I want them ready to mail off. I have a couple of my quilts to get quilted and the backs need to be made.

But the biggie is mending. I hate to mend. So I let it pile up. That is really a dumb thing to do. Then it becomes a dreaded job. So this morning while folding clothes I came across 2 pair of my new pj pants (I buy mens when they are on clearance) and decided to sew the fly shut and then just kept on stitchin'. No, I do not want your pile! I will have another of my own one of these days!

Paul and Art still haven't downloaded. I am bummed. I may have to make a special trip into town. Later.

"Gramma, I Wanna Sew!"

This is what I've heard all morning. If not "Gramma, I wanna sew!", it's been "Gramma, can we sew now???". So after we made pancakes for breakfast, cleaned up our mess, vaccumed, chopped and diced for the crockpot turkey soup, made brownies, roasted hot dogs, we finally got to sew.

I've had this cute teddy bear and watermelon print for years. I've made myself some new pot holders and Miss Taylor wanted to make one for Momma. She did really good. Maybe tomorrow she will make one for Gramma. Or maybe Aunt Jen or Aunt Cryssie.

Now she wants a sewing machine of her very own with all of the things that go with it. Like all the fabric and the needles and the string (thread). But we decided that we will wait until she is a bit older. Until then she can sew with Gramma. I think she needs to down grade a bit and learn on a regular machine. And besides, I think Miss Amanda gets a sewing machine before Miss Taylor does. I think it would be great to have 3 of my Granddaughters sitting around the table sewing up a storm. I see a play date coming on!

In the meantime, Gramma is going to work on her patience. Not everyone gets it the first time they are told. And not everyone wants to sit for hours at a time in front of the sewing machine. Gramma isn't going to do that today either. But I think I'm going to whip me up one of those cute potholders before I put the stuff away.

We are going to give Uggie and the Granddog, Shadow a bath. That should be fun!

Hey Crystal!

What do you think now? Looks better without all the white squares, don't ya think??? I have three rows put together with several more to do. This will be my project for today. I don't think I will put a border on it. It is just too busy. I have a fabulous black with white flowers in pindots for the backing and I am going to use the red for the binding. I bought extra so I want to use it up.

I think I am going to quilt it with a nice meander. Any design will get lost and I need some instant gratifiacation. I want this quilt to be finished sometime this weekend. I haven't started a quilt project and worked it through to the finish for quite a while. Maybe that will be a good start for this new year.

Time to fill my water cup and get ta work!

Yip, Things Are Back To Normal

Last night when I wrote my post, evidently I clicked on save as draft instead of publish post. Big ole duh moment for me.

So here is my 4 patch picture. And below that is my Carolina Crossroads Mystery quilt.

I'm going to start today now. I have some sewing to do and who knows what else I'll find.

TTFN

Publishing post now. ;-)

Woo Hoo! I Did It!

I think I can use this post to call myself an Over Achiever! Just this once. Then I'm back to my normal ole self.

This photo shows 100 four patches. These are for a swap with my longtime on line group. We are doing a 10 year signature block swap using the hatchet block and these 4 patch blocks will incomplete them nicely. I wasn't going to do the swap. I am trying to get my own things done but I've been with this group since almost the beginning and how could I not participate! Besides, the pictures that someone did in EQ6 look like a pretty awesome quilt. I am such a follower!

So my 4 patches are complete and in the mail to the head swapper. Now I need to finish my hatchet blocks. I have 50 sewn that need signing. I think I will make 100. They need to be complete before September.

The Quiltville mystery quilt is calmly waiting for the next step. I went to town a few days ago and got my replacement fabrics. I got all my hour glass blocks sewn up then started on step 6 which is to make Ohio Star blocks, 16 full size, 16 half size and 4 quarter size. So then I had to be a smarty and start to lay them out. I think this might be the right lay out but I will have to wait and see. Step 7 is supposed to be posted tomorrow. That means I have to get busy tonight. It's a pretty busy looking quilt right now. I don't know if the next step will calm it down or make it harder on the eyes. Either way, I plan to finish it so it can go to my May retreats as a show and tell.

I am cleaning my sewing room again. I worked for a while today putting stuff away and then I decided to to start cutting up the other 2 bags of scraps that have somehow turned into 2 bags and a basket full! I cut strips, squares and some rectangles. Leftovers went into the string basket. I like to make a few string blocks when nothing else will hold my interest. I can get a quilt top done in no time.

What I really want to do is make a doll. Last week at our guild meeting, our guest speaker was elinor peace bailey. She is quite a lady! Now I have the itch to make dolls again. I haven't made a doll in at least 7 years! I think I will trace my pattern tonight. Just to have it ready for when I can "schedule" doll making time into my busy life. HAHAHA!!! Sometimes I make myself laugh out loud.

Edited to say that Bonnie posted Step 7 and yeahaw!, I was right. Ok, I'm done now. I have to put my remaining blocks together and create a masterpiece.

Saturday Fun

Today is a good day to stay inside and play. I don't feel like doing anything serious so I spent this morning finishing up my goofed up blocks. All 103 are all nice and neat in zip bag waiting for a project that needs them. Heck, they could work their way into a border for this quilt, who knows.

Then I started to put things away and spotted my pile of fabric I had out for making grocery bags. I found a free pattern at The Creative Thimble for fabric grocery bags and decided today was a good day to try it out. (This fabric is actually left over from my kitchen valance.) The bag turned out nice and I plan to make a few more.

I'm also tired of my old stained, wore out potholders so I whipped up another one. There might be enough scraps left to make a couple more. Fast and fun.

I just noticed that I might want to run the lint roller over my "design wall" and pick off some of the threads that are hanging out there. There's always something to do around here so I think I'll get to it.

For Once In My Life...

...I want to be one of those overacheivers! Just once! I tried, honestly I did. I am going to give up. I will no longer strive to be an overacheiver. I'm done. I'm going back to my old ways. Just work on stuff when you want to. Don't try to keep up with the fun mystery quilt that people all over the world are working on. Go ahead, screw up a simple direction by not paying attention to the cutting instructions. It doesn't matter that you have the first 4 steps complete before step 5 is published. Then when it is published, why not mess up on step 5??? When you get done with my way of doing step 5, you'll have 100 quarter square triangles just like mine.

The instructions clearly state to cut your strips 2" wide. Did I see that? NOPE! I have 1 1/2" strips stuck in my brain. So I grab my little pile of already cut light colored strips, cut up the rest of my light fabric, cut up some more of my red and cut my little triangles like a crazy woman. Yip, I will become an overacheiver!

It's a good thing I can get to my Joann's Store in less than 30 minutes. I have to go buy some more fabric. I have been hoarding black and white fat quarters for almost a year. Then Bonnie comes up with this mystery and I want to play along and I want to make my black and white quilt with an accent of one red fabric. Why one red??? Because when I found this cute fabric, I ended up with 4 fat quarters. Why 4??? Because I forget that I have that print in my stash, I like it so I buy another one. Now I am going to Joann's, use my gift card (Thanks Dee) and buy some more red fat quarters (Yes, they still have them, I checked last time I was there.) and some more white/black because I don't have enough any more.

Then I will finsih up my 2" hour glass blocks, bag them together and decide what to use them in. Then I will make my 3" blocks like the intructions clearly state.

I needed another UFO because I only had 28 to begin the year. And maybe, deep down inside my brain, I wanted to make 2 red, black and white quilts. I think I'll buy 5 of those red fat quarters!