Design Wall Monday

I watched a video that was posted at Subee Sews Quilts of bits Bonnie Hunter's guild lecture. At the end of the video she says something about grabbing a UFO off the shelf and work on it. So I did. The instructions for this quilt are from Mary Quilts (lots of great quilt patterns!) and can be found here.

Actually I spent a good share of the day working in my sewing room, moving things around, exploring bins to find new treasures. I have a big bin of UFOs and wasn't real sure what all was inside and I found this gem from a couple years ago. I remember putting it away because I needed to finish making border blocks. I had the side borders done but not the top and bottom.

Sometimes I just like to sit and make string blocks. So I have lots of them in my bin and there was enough straight ones to make the remaining borders. I had enough of the center strip fabric for the little inner border but not for binding so that will be scrappy. I'm not happy with the corner blocks and think I will be if I rotate them or put on something else entirely.

All in all it's been a great retreat at home weekend. I got the back made for RRCB, some serious reorganizing and worked on this UFO. The long arm is ready for a week full of quilting. Hopefully this little jewel will be done soon.

If I Ever...

...Get Rich and Famous,

the first thing I'm going to do is have a fancy schmancy quilting studio built. I want a ginormous design wall. Huge! So huge I will need a stool to reach the top and I'll be able to lay out my scrappy backings and walk away from it without having to do it in sections! Yeah, that's what I want. And I want lots and lots of fabric so I can have an awesome stash like Teresa of Fabric Therapy shows in this post. I've read where lots of people think she has too much, I think otherwise. I think she has what she needs when she needs it. And I am jealous! Yes I am!

But since I don't play the lottery and I don't think a ship full of money is going to make it to my little section of the world or anything will be dropped from an airplane, I will use my wore out flannel backed tablecloth and my bed as my design walls. Now I have to go in and pin my rows together so I can lay out the last 3 rows I need to make the back for my Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll quilt.

I'm spending the weekend having an at home quilt retreat all by myself. The crock pot is full of chili and the bread is rising. I had hoped to sew late into the night last night but I didn't make it. We'll see how today goes. I am hoping to maybe start quilting on my February UFO that I haven't done anything to since I took a picture of it for this post! Holy Cow, I'm running out of month!!!

Afternoon Progress

After a delicious early dinner of chili and fresh bread and some hubby time, I went back in and sewed the first half of the back together. Then I took it in to the design bed and layed out the remaining squares. I'm going to have some blocks of the same fabric next to each other but I'm not going to worry about it. Some hunks of fabric were larger than others and I only have 2 pieces leftover. They will go into the backing block bin and wait for their turn in another quilt.

Now Ernie is watching some of his recorded TV and I'm going to try to get this back done tonight. While sewing on this and working on my CrabApple leader/ender, I thought maybe I should plan my backs to be leader/ender projects instead of all day projects. Just a thought.......not a plan!

Tuesday Knitting Report

Not as much progress on my second sock as I had hoped. With the stupid pulled muscle in my back, knitting was rather uncomfortable. Crocheting was not. Weird!

Today I am going to try to do a little more knitting. Maybe some sewing just to test out the pain level (praying there is no pain!). Definitely no vacuuming! We are expecting a snow storm and then cold and clear weather for the week. I did all my errands yesterday, groceries for people, dogs and chickens! I can hunker down and do what I love to do!

Design Wall Monday

Or is it really Design Wall Sunday Evening??


I spent Saturday morning working on my Circle of Friends quilt. I wanted this done today so I could put up the next project. I added 2 more rows to the top. I had to wait until I had the sections completed before I could lay them out--you know I confuse myself easily. I had grand plans of finishing this top today. I even thought I knew what I wanted to do for the borders. I planned to use up the remaining 4 patches from the swap like I have them here until I found this post at LuAnn's Loose Threads blog. I love the applique border! And what a great chance to use my GO! Cutter. So now I am rethinking my plan.

I have plenty of time for that right now.......I pulled a muscle in my back and it bothers me to sew. And I am not happy about that.


So I pulled out this project and worked on it while I iced my back and watched The Daytona 500. I haven't worked on it since September! That was the half way point and now I am working on the last quarter and then a round or 2 for a finishing border. Now I will watch the Amazing Race and work on it some more.

Check out other design walls by visiting Judy L's Design Wall Monday post.

Saturday Fun

Ernie has a theory about the mail.....a good mail day is a day with no bills in the mail box. I hate to disagree but a good mail day is a squishie mail day. Nothing makes me happier than a package in the mail.

Today was a fabulous mail day~~a squishie and no bills! These are my mug rugs from Marnie B from Virginia through the Quilting Gallery Mug Rug Swap. And she included this fabulous charm pack! I love them all. I don't think I want to use them!

Earlier today, I loaded up the crockpot with some hamburger soup. When it was finished cooking, I took out enough for dinner and canned the rest. Ernie likes to have soup in his lunch when it's cold out. He says it warms his bones. We figured this is over $25 worth of soup and it probably cost us $5-$6, and that includes the lids. Yield was dinner for 2 and 8 pints for the pantry. I love that everything for this soup was already in the house. I used to portion this up and freeze it but I have no room in my freezer. Thanks to Judy L for so much encouragement, I am no longer afraid of the pressure canner.

Hamburger Soup
2 pounds of hamburger (from the freezer) browned
1 chopped onion (from the freezer)
1 spoonful minced garlic (from the fridge)
1 bag of green beans (from the freezer)
1 bag of corn (from the freezer)
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
4 stalks of celery, sliced
4 red potatoes, chopped into hunks
1/2 cup dry lentils (from the pantry)
1 quart elk (or beef) stock (from the pantry)
Season with salt and pepper and anything else you want
(I did add a pint of green tomato pasta sauce and a not so fresh tomato that needed to be used)

Cook in crock pot until potatoes and carrots are cooked.

Mug Rug Mania

I've been having fun!
I've been making mug rugs for swaps.
I've been playing with my GO! Cutter again.

These two will go to my swap person from the Quilting Gallery swap.

This one will go to my swap person at WASIQ-Washington State Internet Quilters Yahoo Group.

These two will go to ???????? I know but I'm not telling!

Tuesday Knitting Report

I made some progress on sock #2 this week. Not much but some. I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend.

I made DeeDee's hat almost like Taylor's. Again, I used double strands of Wool-Ease and fun fur. I almost didn't give it to her!

I still have my sweater disaster to take care of so that will probably be my next project. Sighhhhhhh!

Finish #5

Sometimes finishing a little wall hanging sparks the Mojo.

I hung this up on the wall of photos. I think it will stay. I should put a hanging sleeve on the back but I'll do that later. Or maybe I won't.....ya never know!

Design Wall Monday

Happy Heart Day!

Sometimes I get a hair brained idea and must act on it immediately! That's what I did with this little wall hanging. While shopping at JoAnn's the other day, I saw a little wall hanging for sale with the Valentine's Day stuff. There was no way I was paying that price-whatever it was, it was ridiculous for the quality of that little thing! So I came home, drew it out and came up with this. I am going to sit down this morning and finish it so we will have a Heart Day decoration today.

A few more short rows have been sewn together on Circle Of Friends but it isn't as far as I had planned. I thought the weekend would be full of rainy weekend sewing but it didn't rain that much. Saturday we went shopping for a smoker like Judy L and CJ have recommended. We bought one and tried it out. This morning Ernie wonders if it was a mistake (it was not!) as he is sampling the pulled pork that his sandwich was made out of. He's afraid he might have to take up jogging!

Visit Judy L and see what she is working on and then visit with others in Blogland to see their projects. I love Monday!

What Do You Do When...

...your Mojo goes missing? I had to go on a major hunt for mine but I think maybe I found it again. I don't like it when my Mojo is missing. It makes me whinnie.

I can't seem to shake this darn cold so have spent lots of time pouting, sitting, knitting, tv watching and napping. I'm tired of doing that. So yesterday I decided I would sew while I tv watched. I've said before how obsessed I am with Grey's Anatomy and am now watching season 3. The problem is that I can't watched it in my sewing room--Netflix only comes through the blu-ray thingie and that is in the living room.

My solution was to get out my current quilt as you go string project and open up my beloved Singer 401A and sew for a few hours in the living room. Hopefully by the time this GA obsession is over, this quilt will be finished, my batting scraps and sting bins will be reduced to almost nothing and that yellow fabric will be gone. Reality says there are enough batting scraps, strings and yellow fabric for another quilt.

**I use the tutorials from Sew Many Quilts - Too Little Time blog when making my Quilt As You Go String Blocks. How to Make the blocks here and how to put them together here.

Tuesday Knitting Report

I spent quite a bit of time in the recliner last week while suffering from a nasty cold. I think I might be on the feeling better side now. I'm saying that softly because I don't want a relapse.

Through several episodes of Grey's Anatomy I worked on a new sock. I started decreasing the toe last night so hopefully it will be finished tonight.

Before starting the sock, I played with the Thorpe Hat. I have never used 2 colors before and thought this would be a fun project to try it. I had some acrylic yarn so I picked that for the experiment. The pattern calls for chunky yarn, so I used 2 strands. Hind sight tells me not to do that again. But since it was a learning experiment, I learned. I went ahead and finished it and Taylor loves it. She loves her hat. I hope she will love the next one.

My next shopping trip list includes chunky yarn for hats.

Design Wall Monday

After last week's DWM post, I decided on the barn raising setting for my signature and 4 patch blocks~thanks for all the suggestions. I even played around in EQ7 for a while to see if there was something else I liked more. I had already named this quilt Circle Of Friends so this setting was the most appropriate.

I am sewing it in quarter sections so I can be very careful and get the names going in the right direction. So far each row of the sections are going according to plan.

I've been down with a nasty cold the last few days and haven't felt like doing much of anything.
I parked myself in the recliner with my quilt, knitting and tv remotes, along with my water bottle and box of tissues. Now that I'm feeling better and the party weekend is over, I have some things to catch up on. Like laundry! and floors! and everything else that was neglected!!! Yes, I live the life of a diva................

February's UFO Challenge Project

Judy L has posted the next number for the UFO Challenge. My #1o is a BOM from Carol Doak's Yahoo group. I went in the sewing room and found the project bag and started looking back through my blog for history of this quilt. This BOM started September 2007, here is a post showing my first block. Then another post from June 2009 showing more progress including some unsewing.

I didn't see any other posts about this quilt. Kind of odd because I really like this top. My bad habit continues. Finish the top, put it on Mt. ToBeQuilted and forget about it. At least the backing and binding were in the bag with it. I think this top calls for some special quilting. Since I will be keeping it for myself, I won't stress about it too much.

Tuesday Knitting Report

I have had a super busy knitting week. Ernie has gone back to work and I have been enjoying my quiet days. After he leaves, I do what I need to get done then I grab my knitting and the remotes and park myself for a while in the recliner. I have a schedule of sorts, watch one episode of Grey's Anatomy (I'm on season 2) and knit, get up and do something productive--I hurry so I can get to the next episode. Crazy I know but it's working for me.

For Taylor's hat I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease and Feather Boa yarn.

This is Leland in his Thorpe hat that I finished last week but he's too cute not to show off.

Miss Maemae is definitely model material! The poses she is coming up with make me giggle.
She loves her new sweater and the hat is about half done.

Elliot was thrilled to get a surprise present.
He isn't much of a hat wearer but when it's cold outside he will wear it.
Look at those eyes! and that smile! Melts my heart!!