Socktoberfest 2012 Opal Challenge

 For me, the Soctoberfest 2012 Opal Challenge is over.

I said here that I wanted to knit 2 pair of socks using this Opal yarn.

I completed my Circle Socks.

I will not complete the Sutton Spirit Socks.

I have one more inch to go before the toe decrease.

There just isn't enough time left in the month for me to do it.

I am thrilled that I completed almost 2 pair.

I used yarn I've never used before and

I used designs I've never knitted before.

I'm calling this a win and three quarters.

I'm linking up to Judy L's post at Patchwork Times.

  

Tiny Tuesday-Block 4

Today I celebrate Tiny Tuesday by making another block #4 of the Midget Blocks from Sentimental Stitches.  Last time I made this block, I trimmed everything to have a 4" block instead of 4 1/2" like it is supposed to be.  I'm sure glad it wasn't one of the more complicated ones.

I still have 2 kitted up ready to sew but I think I'll kit up a few more to have with me at retreat this weekend.  I spent the morning printing the remaining pages so now I feel like I have made a huge commitment to this quilt.

Design Wall Monday

Not much sewing time this week.

I did complete 4 more Pineapple Crazy blocks

but I didn't take a picture.

Friday I picked up Taylor and we did a bit of shopping for 

just the right blue and greens for the Hawaiian Sunset quilt.

I think we nailed it on the corner greens.

I'm making mine all the same to calm things down.

That means I have to exchange the corners in the one block I had complete.

But I'm on my way now.

All the 9 patches have their sashing and cornerstones ready to be sewn on.

I received this fabulous postcard in the mail Saturday.

Thank you so much Annie.

I squealed with delight~it was such an amazing surprise.

I will hang it right where I can see it and smile.

If you aren't a reader of Annie's blog, you should visit her.

She does such great thing.

Head over to Patchwork Times and see other fabulous design walls.

I love Monday in Blogland!

On (and Off) The Needles

On the needles are my Sutton Spirit Socks.

This is pair number 2 for the Socktoberfest 2012 Opal Challenge.

I'll start the heel flap today.

These are the Circle Socks.

Pair number 1 for the Opal Challenge 

and #8 for the 12 in 2012 Challenge.

I think I will wear them today.

These are the socks that have traveled with me since May.

Completed pair #7.

Now I need to cast on a new travel pair.

I have now completed 8 pair for the 12 in 2012 Sock Challenge.

Pair #9 are the Jeck socks that are almost finished.

Pair #10 are the Sutton Spirit socks above.

How great would it be if I finish both of these and 

cast on pair #11 before November gets here.

I don't see that happening.  

I'm a realist. 

I haven't chosen a pattern or yarn for pair #11.

Visit Patchwork Times and

check out other great On The Needle projects. 

The Boy Next Door

I looked out my window last night and saw this guy from next door.  Ernie said he was pacing the fence line trying to get in with our girls.  He opened the gate and he went into the pen but when it was time to lock my girls up for the night, he stayed outside.  We just don't allow that funny business around here! ;0)

I thought maybe he would go home today but no, he is still here.  My girls could care less.  I left the neighbors a note tell them he is here but haven't heard from them yet.  I'm hoping they come and get him soon.  I'm not really wanting a rooster.

Design Wall Monday

After retreat my brain cannot shut down. I woke up this morning way too early and started to think about what my goals are for the rest of the month. This month's UFO Challenge number is 6 and my project is my Carol Doak Twisted Mystery from last year.  I last worked on it here and when I woke up I started thinking about how I want to quilt it.  Weird, huh???  So when I get into the sewing room today, I'll give it a good press and go from there.

I won this book and 3 charm packs as part of my greedy gift package that I boldly stole from Cheryl.  Sorry Cheryl. For quite a while every gift she open, someone stole it from her.  Greedy gift is such a fun game!

Check out other fabulous design walls at Patchwork Times today.

October Retreat Report

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On The Needles

I'm quite excited to see this much progress from last week.  I knew I had spent some time knitting but I had no idea how much I've done.  I am ready to start decreasing for the toe and really ready to cast on pair #2 for the month.  But I'm quite sure that won't happen until this weekend quilt retreat is over. Sometimes I have to make the tough choices......

See other great On The Needle projects here at Patchwork Times.

My Bags Are Packed...

...I'm ready to go. Not on a jet plane but in a Honda Accord.  I'm headed out to retreat.  That's right, 4 days of fun with friends~~sewing, laughing, snacking, yakking, and any other ing that enhances our retreat!  Mind you it's only 3 miles from home and I have to come home during the day to check the dogs and chickens and I come home at night to sleep in my own bed but still, I'm at retreat!

I always pack for retreat with a plan of action.  This time I'm working on Pineapple Crazy, Hawaiian Sunset, 2 Sow-A-Long blocks and a few Midget blocks.  I packed my travel sock and maybe I can get that finished. I have just a few rows left on the toe of sock 2. Maybe I'll knit some, maybe not......

In the red Memory Star rolling cart, I have my featherweight, iron and board, lamp, power cord, tool box, greedy gift, under machine pad with pockets and trash bag/pin cushion and my notebook with my blocks cut and ready to sew.

The red bag holds 2 project bins and bins of scraps plus a bag of chocolate covered pretzels.....my retreat guilty pleasure.

Let's get this thing started........I'm Outta Here!!!

Design Wall Monday

Once I got into the habit of using leader/enders, I have to have something by my machine!  I've got my bow ties ready to lay out into a quilt top, I spent the weekend using this for my l/e and all the while I'm thinking about the new Quiltville Spoolin' Around Challenge.  I wasn't going to do this one.  Pppttt....who am I kidding?  I started yesterday.  I need to cut a basket full .

And working on the mini quilt yesterday allowed me to procrastinate sewing the backs together for these two quilts.  I am going to do that this morning.  And then it will be time to clean and oil my feather weight and pack my not to forget items for retreat!!!

Check out other fabulous design walls at Patchwork Times DWM post.

Hand Stitching On Sunday

While sewing rows together for this quilt, I had to find something for a leader/ender project.  I pulled out the little bin with the extra half square triangles from this step of Orca Bay. Some were sewn, some were not.

I started playing around with them and come up with this little mini quilt.  Early this morning I sat down and did some simple stitch in the ditch quilting and put the binding on.  I couldn't leave it alone so I had to finish it.

I turned on some HGTV show and stitched the binding down.  Now it's hanging on the wall right in front of me when I sew.  (Now that I look at that picture, I think I need to give this a good pressing!)

Today we are having our favorite Sunday dinner-pot roast, smashed potatoes, gravy and corn....it smells so good in here.  Perfect for a Slow Sunday.  Check out Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday and see what others are stitching.

Saturday Sewing

After my Design Wall Monday post, I was determined to get this quilt top finished this week.  I'd sew a bit here and there but not for any amount of time.....I was in knitting mode most of the week.

This afternoon was rainy and stormy and Ernie wanted to watch movies.  I headed to the sewing room to hide and finish this top.

The last section was sewn on and then it was time to trim the setting triangles....UGH.  I kept getting distracted by checking Facebook. LOL  I finally got it trimmed and measured for the first border.  I was kind of holding my breath because I only had 11 inches of the pink fabric, not including a few chunks that could be used if I had to.  I was amazed that I had just the right amount of pink.  The remaining pieces will go into the scrap bin.

 Bonnie, of Quiltville fame, was sewing tonight with quilt cam turned on.  Perfect!  It made the sewing time go so fast.  I loved watching her use the treadle and it makes me want to get mine out and fixed up to use.  I know it needs a new belt.  The borders went on and the binding was made and pressed.  The top is even measured so I can get the backing made.  Crossing my fingers to get this quilted Sunday or Monday.  I'll use my favorite feather pantograph on this one.

It was a very productive day including time spent with some of the grands.

On The Needles

I am still knitting along on my first pair of Circle Socks. These are for the Opal Sock Challenge for Soctoberfest.  I'm not a speedy knitter and if I want to make 2 pair of socks this month, I need to pick up the pace or in my case, pick up the needles.

Today it is supposed to start raining and raining hard.  I can't believe I'm saying this but after 3 months, I'm excited for the rain.  Of course I will become sick and tired of it before too long.  I think this weekend will be a perfect time to stay home and do what I love to do......quilt and knit.

Visit Patchwork Times and see what others have on their needles.

Socktoberfest

I think this is the fastest I have ever knit a sock!  After stitching up the toe tonight, I quickly cast on sock 2 and am about half done with the ribbing.

I am anxious to use some of my Knit Picks self striping yarn with this pattern.  I think they will be quite fun!  But that will have to wait until after the Opal Challenge is over.

I Followed My Friends...

I've been following along as Jill, Angela and Amy have been making their Midget Blocks.  

I've loved everything they have done. 

I wasn't going to make any of these blocks.

OK, Judy, Whatever.

You see, 

 I've had this file folder on my desk for a very long time.  

So long in fact, that the URL I wrote on the folder is no longer valid.

There are 60 blocks printed in this folder.

This morning as I'm reading Angela's Tiny Tuesday post,

I decided to get that folder out. 

Then I went into the sewing room and made block 1.

Now I'm hooked.

I printed out 20 more blocks, 

I kitted up 5 blocks using only fabrics from my scrap bin.

Then I had a talk with myself.

I will save these for retreat next week.

I will do nothing else with these until retreat!

Makes me think of the old Mom question-

"If your friends jump off the bridge, will you follow them?"

Probably!

Now I am going to sew some more Sow-A-Long blocks together.  

Design Wall Monday

No design wall for me yet but I do still have that old flannel back table cloth that I had used for years. I spread it out on my bed and used it to lay out my Sow-A-Long blocks.  I'm glad I'm stopping at 50 blocks for this quilt because I'm hoping I have enough of the fabric leftover from the setting triangles to make an inner border.  I like the way the blocks float on the quilt.  But if there isn't enough, I'll just use the dark outer border and be happy with that.

If you enlarge the photo, you will see that EQ7 cuts the outer cornerstones. I'm not doing that and don't know how to make EQ7 show them the way I want them. Any tricks or tips for that??

The four diagonal rows on the left are all sewn together.  The 5th row is complete but not sewn on yet and the remaining rows are stacked and waiting their turn at the machine........That right there is why I need to get that design wall up.  I like sleeping in my own bed.  And after the whirlwind weekend Quiltathon, I was ready for my bed pretty early last night.

Grab yourself a cuppa and check out the other great design wall posts over at Patchwork Times.  I love Monday in Blogland.

October Quiltathon Final Report

I can't believe how much I accomplished in the last 4 days.

Day 1--I made 1 block and cut all the sashings and border fabrics for the Grandmother's Choice Sampler.

Day 2--Baking, knitting and 3 more GCS blocks.

Day 3--2 more GCS blocks and a Carol Doak paper pieced BOM and time spent laying out the Sow-A-Long pink and brown blocks, sewed a few of them together.  More time spent knitting.

Day 4--today......I baked more zucchini bread and a really good apple crisp.  Then about 11, I headed to the sewing room and worked on sewing more blocks into rows.  I've got the top half sewn together. I don't know how much longer I'm going to work on this today. I'm tired and thinking about taking a nap...or knitting.  Maybe I'll sew later tonight or maybe not.

Thanks Judy L for another fun Quiltathon.  Can we do it again next month?? You can see how others spent their Quiltathon time here.

Quiltathon Day 4

I finished up this Carol Doak BOM last night and after I posted my progress, I went back in and figured out what I was doing with my setting triangles ...I forgot to put a sashing piece on. Duh! Then I spent some time knitting on my Circle Socks and watching some of my TV shows that I had recorded. Do you watch Parenthood? And do you cry during each episode????  I love that show.

This morning I decided to get more zucchini bread in the oven, so four loaves are cooling waiting to be packaged for the freezer.  I've tried putting the grated zucchini in the freezer but I never remember to take it out before we want bread.  The next batch will be made into muffins and packaged 2 per baggie so I can just put them in Ernie's lunch.  Now there is an apple crisp in the oven and I have my mess cleaned up and I'm ready to sew.

Quiltathon Day 3

I'm ready to start today's Quiltathon......who knows how long it will last. Ernie went to town and I have no idea what he has planned for the rest of the day. It's always a mystery!  Last night I made this paper piece block to replace yesterday's disaster. Today I will make the remaining 2 blocks and be caught up for this sampler.  Then I plan to do the Carol Doak block for this month.

My friend Harriet have me a big bag full of preprinted panels of all kinds.  She told me to do with them whatever I want so I am going to put them in the washer and dryer then I am going to use some of them on the back of my Ultimate Scrap Quilt Like Julie's.  I am finally in the quilting mood and would love to have this one finished for retreat in a couple weeks.

Off I go, I'll check in later.

Lunchtime Update:

I'm caught up on Grandmother's Choice!  I went ahead and sewed the sashing rows to the block row. It needs one more block-next Saturday.

I got kind of a late start, just after I posted this morning, my brother stopped to visit.  After he left, Ernie went into town to get some lumber to finish the trim on the new door we had installed a couple weeks ago. When he asked if I wanted anything from town, I said yes, lunch please.  He brought home Taco Bell.  He is so well trained, I think I'll keep him.  Now he is playing carpenter and I am going to go back in and do some paper piecing!

Evening Update:

I'm done for the night.  I got the Carol Doak block done. Helped a few times while Ernie put the trim back on the door...and it looks so nice!    After putting some stuff away and cleaning up a bit, I decided to work on the Sow-A-Long blocks.  I cut the setting triangles and the rest of the sashing and cornerstones.  I put a couple rows together but my brain isn't wanting to work so I decide to wait until tomorrow so I don't mess it up.  The fabric for the backing is washed and dried so I can figure out how to make the quilt back.

Now I'm going to put the chickens to bed and park myself in the recliner and knit until I can't keep my eyes open anymore.

Quiltathon Day 2

I got a bit of a late start this morning on the Quiltathon.  I decided to knit for a couple hours on my Circle Socks.  It was cold in the house and since it is going to be a nice day today, I wouldn't plug in the heater...I'm kind of cheap that way!  So cuddling up in the recliner with a quilt and my socks and a couple of DVR'd shows, I was a happy knitter.

I cut out the second block for my Grandmother's Choice sampler.  I'm not afraid of Y seams, I prefer to avoid them but I love this block.  Don't look too close, it's not perfect and 2 sides need to be sewn. 

I kind of got sidetracked because before I went in to sew, I put a couple loaves of Apple/Raisin/Zucchini Bread in the oven.

It started smelling so good so I had to come out and check it but it still has a little bit left to bake so I thought I'd check in.

Check in at Judy L's Patchwork Times and see how others are spending their day.  I'll report back later...to let you know how scrumptious the bread is.........and how much progress I've made.

Afternoon update:

 Can you say frustrated!  I worked so long on this block.  Being careful to cut my pieces exactly, sew carefully and it turns into a big ole mess!  It's going in the scrap bucket and will become part of Pineapple Crazy.  I'll find a different block, life is too short to make myself crazy over a quilt block!

Thank goodness these turned out good and that I did them before the Kansas Sunflower block.

Pizza dough is rising.......

Evening Update:

The bread is delicious! The pizza was delicious.  I found a paper pieced block and made it to replace the Kansas Sunflower block.  I'm calling it My Choice.  And I'm calling it a night.

On The Needles

Soctoberfest started Monday.  I started my 2 Circle Socks Monday morning with Opal yarn.  I followed the pattern, even after discussing with Judy L about adding ribbing......I followed the pattern.

Seems I did not follow the pattern, my needles were too large so that made the socks sloppy.  And I did not follow the pattern for the pattern......make sense?  Sometimes we(I) read things the way we(I) want them to read, not the way they actually read.  It took me this long to figure that out.  So off the needles they came! Dang, I hate that!!

Bright and early Thursday morning, I started over.  I am using the proper size needles, knitting only 1 sock-must buy circulars this size-added ribbing and am now correctly following the pattern.  I really like the way this is looking.  Despite having all the purl rows (not my favorite thing to do), I think this will be one of my favorite designs.

These are my September socks for the 12 in 2012 Challenge.  I need to get caught up this month! No pressure!!! This is for fun...........I keep telling myself that.

What's on your needles?  See what others are working on here.

October Quiltathon Day 1

Judy L is hosting the October Quiltathon beginning today.  I don't have much time today for sewing but I did get started on the Grandmother's Choice: Votes for Women sampler.  I ordered my fabrics from Connecting Threads. They have the whole line of Charlottesville on clearance so I took advantage of that.  I even bought the wide backing.

I cut the sashing and cornerstones and cut the backing to size so I can use the remainder of those fabrics, I still need to cut the outer border strips and binding strips. I read on someone's blog that she was going to set her's with the sashing in rows as she made them. So when the last block is done, she will have a quilt top almost finished.  I think that's a great idea and thinking about doing the same thing.

Block 1 is complete.  I hope to get caught up as block 6 will be posted Saturday.

The remainder of Day 1 will be spent celebrating Corbin's first birthday.  It sure doesn't seem like a year since he was born.  Time sure flies~~~~~~~~

National Sewing Month Final Report

I did it!  I reached my goal, I sewed every day. Only once did I get into bed without sewing a stitch. When I remembered, I got up and sewed for a few minutes. Now I need to think about what kind of a prize I want to buy myself.  Something sewing related.

What did I sew??? I made some Pineapple Crazy blocks, some Sow-A-Long blocks, a Carol Doak block of the month, lots of bow ties, hand stitched some hexies and made a whole flock of geese! And it was all sew much fun!

This month I'm going to try to keep sewing every day.  I've learned if I go in right after Ernie leaves for work, I will sew for an hour or sew and not feel guilty. There will always be those times when I just can't take his TV shows anymore so I will go in and hide.

Design Wall Monday

This weekend I put away the Hawaiian Sunset bin project to work on these Sow-A-Long blocks.  I've been pretty good about staying caught up with this project and want to continue to do so.  Then there is the Carol Doak mystery BOM that needs done and the block of the week at Grandmother's Choice that I want to catch up on.  

I have been making 2 sets of blocks for the Sow-A-Long, one set is pink and brown and the other is from my scrap bags.  I am making a nice sized wall quilt from the pink and brown blocks and have all the blocks I need for that.  Yesterday I started laying them out.  I am using a cardboard folding cutting mat with a flannel backed table clothe over it as my design wall.  That lays on top of the longarm rails.  It was quite handy until... Mr. Naughty aka Turbo decided it was an awesome place to take a nap.  He buckled the cardboard and rearranged the blocks!  And he is giving me THAT look....Oh you know what he's saying......... Stinker!  So now, I will rearrange the blocks and close the door when I leave the room until they are sewn together!

What's on your design wall?  See what others are working on at Patchwork Times.  I love Monday in Blogland!!