Finishes Feel Fantastic!

Time to Celebrate!

Pinwheels Finished!

(Ooohhh, I forgot to use the lint brush before posting a picture.
It's all de-linted now, ready for gifting.)

Fun pinwheel backing found at Thousands Of Bolts.

Scrappy Twin Sisters Finished!

Fun scrappy flannel backing.

Before this makes it to a UFO list,

borders have been added so it is next up to be quilted. 

Time to get out the tables for basting!

That's 3 UFOs off the UFO Parade List-Part 1.

National Sewing Month Recap

My goal for National Sewing Month was to sew every day. 

I did it! 

I am celebrating.

Seriously, I cannot believe how much I accomplished.

Most days I was able to sit in front of the sewing machine.

Some days were spent with a little time, threaded needle and Circle of Jewels in my lap.

What did I work on?

In the collage you can see red/white/blue blocks for retreat lotto drawing, under that is the Quilt Retreat bag, next to that is Shirley checking out Tell It To The Stars, Batik Boxes (UFO blocks) top was put together, Wishes BOM was caught up, 2 minis, more Pineapple Crazy blocks made. Retreat fun happened. Smith Mountain Morning top was completed, Batik Hexies quilted. Circle of Jewels added to and a butterfly bag  (the black and white bag was made by Cheryl).  

Each day sewing time was found.

I'd love to keep that up for October.

For no other reason than

.

Sewing Soothes My Soul.

National Sewing Month-Days 24-26

 Daily sewing continues as I celebrate (my word for the year) National Sewing Month. It's hard to believe we are this far into September already. Wednesday was my last day with the grands so after they went to bed and I patiently waited for Crystal and Mike to get home, I stitched more parts onto Circle of Jewels.  Thursday I pretty much was a slug so spent quite a bit of time in the recliner with my hexies and jewel parts. I think I have all the parts ready and now it's time to get serious about the top. Serious is my new term for obsession.

Today I wanted to sit at my machine for a while. I had a stack of 12 18" batik blocks that I wanted to get sewn up. I hung them on the design wall yesterday and today I sat down and sewed them up. In just a few minutes, I had a quilt top. Why did I wait so long to do this!!!  This photo is from my original post-July 20, 2009.   I bet I have a whole new crop of ugliness to make another top.  Not that they are all ugly--a few of them, yes!!--but beauty is in the eye......

The top is 54 x 72.  I think I am going to just quilt it up as is. It will make a nice cuddle quilt for a teen.  Although...I do have some black batik left from this quilt that will make a great border.  I wonder if there is enough for a 6" border and then some fun, scrappy binding.......Would you look at that! A new plan as I write. 

The batik strips came from strip swaps.  I don't even know how many swaps I have participated in over the years. Lots!  Each swap always has a couple of strips that make me go HUH??? but I take them and keep them and used quite a few of them here. I added a few of my favorites strips too.  Now my collection is 5 years larger. It's time to pull our a strips book or 2 and find something fun to make with them. 

Here is a fun picture from retreat. I love sitting back and watching the interaction of my friends. We are such a fun group!

Quilting Time Leads To A Finish

Here is my 60th birthday present to myself. 

My word of the year is Celebrate and boy have I been.

I absolutely love this machine! 

My chuckle--I was telling Denise about getting it 

and how disappointed I was that there was no light.

I think she thinks I'm nuts. 

She told me where the button is-on the side face above the needle.

Dorkie me!

I like to free motion quilt with gloves on.

These are plain ole garden gloves and

they work great because they have that rubber grippy stuff on them.

Those little red things on the end of the pins?

Those are called Pinmoor

and I wonder where they have been all my quilting life!

I'll be buying more of those.

No more puncture wounds on my arms when using straight pins.

Today's quilting time lead to the finish of the Elk quilt for the hunting club's annual picnic raffle.

I'm hoping there will be lots of arguing and bickering and ticket purchasing for this.

Next up is Mae's Flower Garden. 

I'm in the zone.

On The Needles

 My first knitting finish of 2014! Celebrate!!  I started these socks in June to take to my Wednesday group. They were knit on here and there but mostly not. When Ernie had his surgery in November and I grabbed these to work on while I waited. Then I put them away again. The other day I pulled out the Rivel Cardigan to focus on and absolutely could not concentrate on it. So out come the socks.

This yarn is Patons Kroy Sock--color is Fern Rose Jacquard.

Last week, one of the On The Needles posts was from Dora Quilts. She mentioned Norwegian Purl. I had never heard of that so I Googled it and spent some time Friday learning how to do it. It come in handy on the socks. You really can teach an old dog........

Now I need to cast on another pair of socks. My To Go bag is empty.  Which yarn will I pick???

Next I decided to focus on the Rivel Cardigan and get busy! This is an overdue birthday present and I feel bad about that. Especially since she picked the pattern and the yarn!  I just need to sit down with some quiet and concentrate. In no time it all came back. The bust has been shaped and I'm now working toward the shoulder. I moved the lifeline up yesterday morning so I made some progress last night.  Cross your fingers and wish me luck. I'd love to be able to show you the sleeves next Friday or at least the progress on the sleeves.

See other great projects at Patchwork Times.

Hello 2014

While everyone else is putting together their Celtic Solstice quilts, I focused on finishing up my Back To Square One Mystery. Isn't if fabulous! After our water woes of the last 4 days, I needed to celebrate (my word of the year) with sewing and laundry--sew until the dryer beeps, switch things around, fold, repeat.  And oh did I celebrate getting the water fixed. Happy New Year to us. New water pump and holding tank and some other parts.

Judy L designs the best quilts and she kept us guessing on this one. I need to get some backing for this and hope to quilt it soon.

Tell It To The Stars is her 2014 Mystery and I have my fabric for this already. I am not starting it quite yet. I have one more UFO to finish before I start anything new. It will be the final project I had for December's Getting It Done Challenge. And when that is finished, I will write my post with my January goals.

Now I have to put away a whole bunch of clean clothes.  And smile as I pet my pretty quilt top.

My Word For 2014

Celebrate!

This morning I started thinking about my word for 2014. I thought about Extravaganza because I will have my 60th birthday this year. Then I though no, that's not quite right. I want to make it more about happiness all year instead of just the month of May which will be my Extravaganza month! I do love my month long birthday celebration that I started doing during my 50th year. 

Celebrate! I will celebrate my accomplishments. I love simple pleasures. Silly little things that make me smile, small accomplishments, big accomplishments, feel good moments. So I will celebrate them, whatever they are. 

Do you have a word for your year?