Design Wall Monday

Not much sewing room action around here this week.

I did manage to sew a couple more rows to this baby quilt.

I spent some time working on gift that can't be shown yet.

I stitched out this quilt block for my friend Sharlene.

I worked on my Abracadabra socks.

I worked on my Paraphenalia sock.

I discovered I have been reading the chart wrong.

I also discovered I am really making the second sock first.

So I will keep calm and carry on.

Discover other fabulous design walls by visiting Judy L.

All Is Calm

That's life on the farm today.......it's calm. No place to go, not much to do. I quickly got the laundry washed and hung out. Unlike most of the country, good ole Southwest Washington has not had much heat. We have had cooler and wetter than normal days for a while now. I am ready for some summertime. My garden is craving sunshine.

As I was hanging out the clothes, the dark clouds blocked the sun and I got a bit nervous, but I'm going to believe the weather guy today-for a change. The laundry is all hung out now. Mark that one off the list.

My friend Sharlene picked up a project from quilt guild the other day. It was 12 of these muslin preprinted quilt squares. I think she said 2 were finished, 1 was started. I volunteered to do one and now it is ready to return to her. She has all the others done. Now someone will sew them together and hand quilt it for a donation. I was going to press the block but decided not to, I can't remember if Sharlene pressed hers or not. If so, I'll do it when we meet on Wednesday.

I had a couple preprinted candlewick pillow tops but I cut them up to use as the backing for a quilted bag I made. Now I'm wishing I would have make the pillows. Oh well, I have enough other things to work on. Like 2 pair of socks, a pair of felted slippers and a shawl, all in progress and 2 more embroidery projects in the works. I think I will gather them all and put them by my chair. Maybe that will encourage me to finish something. Oh and there are the mittens I want to make.......sigh! I did find this post--the only time I labeled this redwork project. Yes, it's over a year old..........but the last block is almost done and I have all the other fabrics together in the box to finish it. Cross my fingers, I may have a finish this week!

Now I must make potato salad and get the steak marinating. Then it's off to my quilting room for therapy. Hope your day is calm.

Knitting and Other Stuff

I am such a pushover! I am like Dory in Finding Nemo. I see something shiny and off I go! The latest shiny object is a pair of Paraphernalia socks. I tried to be strong. Really I did. But Judy L showed her's here and I had to jump on the band wagon. I went to my sock yarn stash and found this yarn that I bought quite a while back from Knit Picks. It probably wasn't the best choice to use but I'm fine with it. I will have a pair of socks with cables, whether they can be seen or not is fine with me. If they turn out good, I'll be happy to show them to you. LOL

I am not doing the knit along that she is doing but I am getting over my fear of cables. I thought this would be a good pattern to try and with Judy's encouragement, I am doing it. I'm sure there is a mistake or 2 but what sock of mine would be complete without one. :-)

So I can no longer say I am afraid of cables because I'm not. As long as I have my clicker and paper and pencil.

I am back to working on these socks too. It's been a while since I did anything on them and I really want them so I am back to knitting a few rows a night before I pick up the cable socks.

I've been spending some time perusing Goodwill for treasures. One day I found this fabulous curved plate to use as serving dish, 14 wide mouth pint jars and a bunch of forks and spoons.


After talking to the hostess of the hunting club picnic, I decided to get a stack of plates and silverware for big gatherings. Like she says, I can wash dishes but I hate buying, eating off of and throwing away paper plates. Sure got me thinking and now I'm all set.

Yesterday I found this cute little Tupperware child size cake carrier and it HAD to be mine. I wanted to buy Corelle dinner plates but the last time I was at Goodwill, there were none. Yesterday there were 28 dinner plates and 3 salad plates. I think I'm good for now. I'll still keep my eye out for a few more but not 28 at once. And I added a few more jars, forks and spoons to my collection.

My Mondays and Tuesdays are spent with Jonah. His new best friends and our new family members are Dozer and Turbo. Right now they are all cuddled up in the chair taking naps. It's hard to be 7 and get up at 5:30 to go to Gramma's. Some mornings require naps!

Design Wall Monday

Slow and steady wins the race. Isn't that what they say? I hope so, because I've got the slow down pat. A few minutes here and there, I have more rows sewn together. Not many because I've been on a knitting kick. I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone that left a get well wish last week. I wasn't going to post about not feeling good but this is my life journal and it had a big effect on what didn't get accomplished. Now I am almost back to my old self and feeling great.

This is my current leader/ender project. I've picked up a few miniature magazines at different retreats and this little quilt has been taunting me. A few Wednesdays ago, I pulled out my little bags of bonus triangles and took them to our Binding Friends day to trim. I got most of them trimmed and am now sewing them together the blossoms for the trees. The finished blocks will be 6" and use up several little half square triangles. I will use the same greens and red that I used on the Crabapple Quilt to finish it.

Head over to Judy L's and see what others have on their design walls.

Design Wall Monday

I finished Golden Harvest. She is now a complete top. I just can't bring myself to change her name though. As I was putting the leftover fabric away, I stumbled upon 2 bundles of triangles that I had bought at the Stash Builder's Sale back in April. On one bundle the tag said 40 Kaffee Fassett fabrics 75 cents. I wish the tag was with the other one but it wasn't. I got out some Kona Snow and cut more triangles and soon I'll have a baby quilt for the newest grandbaby.

Not much time was spent sewing though, I decided it must be a good time to get super sick instead. As soon as I started to feel human again, but unable to get up and do much, I started working on my shawl. The one I'm making with the yarn from the dreaded sweater. Simple, straight knit. I'm working my way up to a fancy one but I think it will be a while.

So now I am going to grab my quilt and park in the recliner and maybe go back to sleep for a while. It's been all sleep all the time or no sleep at all, lots of movies have been on and some have been watched. It's all good though, medicine is a wonderful thing. I'll be fine in a day or two.

Check Judy L's blog for fabulous design walls.

Small Appliance Love

I know it's crazy but I love my FoodSaver! If I had to choose only one small appliance to own, it would be this one. I'm spoiled and I like all my kitchen toys/tools. I'm glad I don't have to choose.

Sunday I smoked 4 chickens for daughter Crystal while working on The Pantry Project. They were deboned and but in the fridge to rest while we celebrated yesterday. First thing this morning, I packed them up into 7 packages for her freezer. Maybe I could have gotten another package but while deboning, I ate a lot of chicken and Ernie got a super sandwich today for his lunch. I work pretty cheap, don't I.

Today I get to do pretty much whatever I want to. Yes, I do that most days but today seems to be more special to me. I have the washer going and a load ready to hang outside. The water is on for the garden and the timer is set so I don't forget to turn it off. I am going to finish up a couple more things and spend lots of time in the sewing room today.

I hope you get to do whatever you want to do today.

Design Wall Monday

Almost! It's almost all put together. I just need 2 more 20 minute sessions. I just need to find those 20 minutes. I have no clue where to look for them. I'm not too worried though, I know they will show up soon enough.

Until then, I'm trying to think up a name for this quilt. I've been calling it Golden Harvest at the Bed and Breakfast. That is the name of the pattern and the name of the fabric line. But it just isn't working for me. I think I will call it Stolen Moments because so much of the work has been done in little moments of time whenever I find them.

Happy Independence Day

If you find a few moments today, go over to Judy L's and see other fabulous design walls.

The Pantry Project

Our home used to belong to my Gramma and Grampa Maple. I love this old house. We have done a lot of things to change this house but one thing that hasn't been changed too much is the "hall cupboard". It's always been called the hall cupboard. Always. It was built by Grampa with rough cut lumber. The shelves are far enough apart to hold quart jars.

Right now these shelves hold too much junk. Not all of it is junk. See my canned beef and chicken, my fabulous stock. There are a few jars of jelly left and some other stuff that probably needs to be used up soon. (Ignore the dust on the top of the jars.)

The shelves need to be cleared out and organized. (I have already taken lots of stuff off the shelves. And I'm not done yet!) I had big plans to paint them but that didn't work out too well. Proof of that is right here. I still want them painted. I just don't know when I'll get it done.

With my revitalization of coupon shopping/stockpiling, I needed to make some changes. BIG changes! Today was the day to start. I had bags of groceries on the floor and shoved into what has been labeled the scary room. It has also been known as the middle bedroom, Doug's room, my sewing room, the "when will it become the gun room" and the "if you don't know where to put it, put it in there" room. Now it will be known as the pantry. Well that's what I'm calling it anyhow! Half will be my stockpile side and the other half will be for Ernie's gun stuff. He can call it the gun room if he wants, he'll just be wrong. And probably his half will be more like a quarter.

So after some work, here is one corner with lots of things on the shelves. On the wall are a few of my treasures and on the left is a cabinet piled high with more junk. That's up next!

I know some of you are trying to count, so I'll just tell you. 5 cake mixes, 4 frostings, 25 brownie mixes, 20 pastas, 12 rices, 26 BBQ sauce, 3 A-1, only 3 mustard, 8 salad dressings, 3 ketchups, 8 Miracle Whips and OH NO, I'm out of mayo! 19 peanut butters, 6 cereals, 13 asst. V-8s. On the right is Gatorade and Propel for Ernie's lunch and with it on sale right now, I am going to go buy more. Not one item was bought at full price!

Yes, that's just a start. There is more to be done. I have a grand plan to have the small closet full of toilet paper before winter. Yes, it is still sold in winter but Ernie is having another surgery and I don't want to have to "run to the store" for anything! And it's just something I want to do.

And while all that was going on, these were in the smoker for Crystal and after they are cool, they will be packaged for the freezer. As will the bones and skin for a later stock making session. I don't know if Crystal wants smoked chicken stock but I sure do.

Now I think I'll spend a bit more time in the Pantry.