Design Wall Monday

These are the blocks for this year's quilt for the hunting club.  This is the third year I've made a quilt for one of the picnic door prizes.  It's the third year some of these same fabrics have been used.  I think I have enough for another quilt for next year with the addition of a new fabric or two.  It's nice that the quilt is something the club now looks forward to.

This is the Wicked Easy pattern from byAnnie.com that is no longer available.  There is another free pattern on that site called Wickedly Easy that I think I'm going to do soon.  This quilt was super fast even with the intense thinking I had to use because of the directional fabrics.

I love using the photos as an aid in laying out the blocks.  It looks like I need to lay them out again and move them around some more.

But first I'm going over to Patchwork Times and see what's on other design walls around Blogland.

Plans and Reality

You know what I mean when I say "my plan for the day is..."  and then reality sets in???  Saturday my plan was to finish the last of the blocks for the Sow-A-Long.  I cut my pieces and put them with the instructions in a 3 ring binder so when I want to sew for a while, I can just take out a page and make the blocks.  I'm doing 2 of each block, pink and brown and scrappy.  

These were my last blocks and then I would be caught up waiting for 3 new blocks this Wednesday.  I was being quite smug until I went to sew on the last sashing and cornerstone piece.  The blocks didn't look right.  Why did I have blue with my pink and brown with the gold???  OH CRAP!  So I started to take them apart and in walks Ernie!  Dang, he's home with another load of fire wood.  There goes my plans!  Right into reality world!  Poop!

The truck got unloaded and this winter's woodpile is going to be fabulous.  My winter security blanket.  I have a thing about being warm.  Then we went into town to buy some trail cameras.  That didn't work out in our favor but we did learn a lot and met a really nice, knowledgeable young man that helped us a lot.  We came home and got online and really started researching.....that's some hard work right there but successful. And now he's happy with what we learned and what we bought.

 Fast forward to Sunday.  Up early because the dogs needed to go out and it's normal Monday through Friday wake up time........when will I learn to sleep in on the weekends???  Probably never--more reality!  After coffee, I decided to go in and finish my blocks.  Done!  Caught up!  Ready for Wednesday!!!

Now it's time to play.  Set one-Scrappy.  I like the ease of the straight setting.  I like that the sashing is on the blocks and when the time comes, just sew them together. 

Oh, pink and brown on point.  I'm sure this is how this one will go.  But you all know how my plans work out...........

I'm just tickled to be caught up.  With this project anyhow.  Now I have to get out the fabric for the hunting club quilt.  The picnic is just a few weeks away.........and the quilt is one of the most popular prizes.  I don't want to disappoint a bunch of hunters.

Oh and the sewing room rearrange--still working on that one.  We came up with a new/improved idea that will become reality this week.......maybe.

Simple Solution

I'm a little bit height impaired.........short to most people.  I wanted that brown scrap bin off the top shelf and I couldn't reach it for some reason.  I didn't have any trouble shoving it up there...I guess I didn't think too far ahead on this one.  ;o)

Paint stick to the rescue!!!  I got these to use in the back of wall hanging but haven't used even one for that yet. This one will have a permanent home on the container shelf.  I'll do some moving of the bins though as I can see this won't work well for me as it is.  Things that are used less often will have to go up on that high shelf.

I'm using my timer today. I really want to sew, so instead of just sitting and sewing, I'm sewing for 20 minutes, organizing for 20 minutes.  Win, win.   Back to sewing, labeling, re-arranging and putting stuff away.

Design Wall Monday

Last year, Bonnie Hunter wrote about a Bow Tie Block Challenge.  We were supposed to use them for leader/enders only.  I wasn't going to do it, I had too many other things going on.  You all know where I'm going here, don't you!!!  Yes...I caved and started making blocks.  They are just so darn cute.  Then life happened and other things happened and the bow ties were put away to be worked on "later".

Guess what??? It's later.....I unearthed the basket-really I knew where it was but I needed to cut fabric and put that off.  This weekend I was sewing on a couple of my Sow-A-Long blocks and didn't have anything for a leader/ender.  I decided to get busy and cut a bunch of block parts to fill my little basket.  I don't know how many I cut but I know there are enough to keep me busy for a while.

It sure feels good to be sewing again.  My room isn't finished yet, I have shelves to put up still and things to put where they are handy.  I know what storage containers I need to buy.  Now I have to make a trip into town to get them.  It will get done.......soon.

The Sun is Shining...

...and that makes me happy!  I have been waiting for this day since late last fall.  I love to hang quilts, bedding, towels, clothes, everything! outside.  I love the fresh smell.  I sleep like a baby with fresh dried outside sheets.  When I heard we would finally have a nice warm weekend with no chance of rain, I planned this for early this morning.  Ernie took off early to cut another load of firewood.  I tended the washer and the clothesline.

I love it!  As you can see, I am greatly influenced by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.  Here is a list of her free patterns.  You can see Orange Crush on the left, behind that is Pioneer Braids, Scrappy Bargello and String X.  Ready to hang out now is Double Delight.  My clothesline will be full.  Isn't that great?

Supervising today is Miss Blue.  She is a year old Blue Andalusian and is gorgeous.  She is an excellent layer, giving us one nice big white egg almost daily.  She and Miss Whitey were attacked by a neighbor dog a couple months ago and stopped laying for 3 very long weeks.  They are now both fine and I was thrilled when I found a white egg and she hasn't stopped since.  (The neighbor or the dog have not made a return visit.....I don't know what they did with the dog and I don't care as long as I never see him or his owner again.) 

The new girls are finally in the pen with the big girls.  Today is their first day out as free range chickens.  Really they aren't true free range because they get locked up at night and I feed them chicken food along with veggie and fruit scraps and what they forage for themselves.  In return, all I ask is that they stay safe, grow big and strong and repay me with some eggs one day.

Ernie is home now with a pick up load of wood.  I think he would like some help unloading......  Today, life on the farm is good.

Sewing Room Update

 I've been working on the re-do of my sewing room for far too long.  It's an overwhelming task.  I had to dive in head first and just do it.  I didn't take before photos because I was too embarrassed and there is no way that I would have shown them to you, never, ever!!!  These are bad enough.

I started clearing out my room on March 16th.  I wrote about it first on March 18th.  Optimistically I thought I could do this in a little under a week......Oh how WRONG I  was!!!  I have a ton of excuses but I'll save them.

This morning, this corner looked like this, stuff stacked up with no home yet.  I had jicky joggyed the quilting frame over to the other side of the room.  Move it a little, move stuff over to this side, move the frame, move more stuff.  

I had a plan for the second shelving unit.  I was going to have that 2 drawer file cabinet there and then have shelves on top of it for my books.  When I planned it and measured, I had just enough room not to interfere with the air conditioner.  When I started setting up the 2nd unit, I was in front of the ac by about 1/2".  Just enough that I couldn't open the cover to get the filter out to clean it.  Of course.  So I came up with a new plan.  Move the file cabinet out and now I will make shelves all the way up to put those bins on.  And I will find a new home for the file cabinet.

This is how I left it tonight.  I moved a bunch of bins into their (maybe) new home.  Of course, I don't know if everything will stay on the shelves as they are now or not.  I have so much more work to do.

Then I had to clear out this corner.  This is where my new corner table is going.  I have the best son in law.  He kind of lit a fire under my hinny this morning by offering to do this today.  I couldn't say no.  

This is how we left it tonight.  I am exhausted, my back hurts, my brain hurts.  I hope I can sleep tonight and not think about what I want to do tomorrow.  I'm going to buy another shelving system for above the table.  I've decided not to have a design wall.  I'll think of something else.  My wall space is now too valuable as storage space.

If you haven't read the Fabric Therapy blog recently, you are missing out on some fabulous organizational posts.  Teresa has shared every inch of her quilt cave with us.  I have read her posts before and she has inspired me to organize my space in a more functional way.   Her timing for these posts could not have been better for me, they started right in the middle of my mess.  And the book she talks about, Organizing from the Inside Out...I got the DVD from my library and watched it for even more inspiration---the DVD is shown here at Amazon and I saw it available at Netflix.

The way I had my room was not working at all and I used it this way for years.  I think when I get finished, I'll be so stinkin' happy that I will never come out........well maybe for a minute or five...........but not much longer than that.

Design Wall Monday

 Not much sewing has been happening around here.  I did get this mini quilted and the binding put on.  Then I took the binding off.  My seam allowance was very, very wrong!  I decided to wait until the big machine was set back up again and promptly put the featherweight in it's case.

I need to focus on getting my sewing room back together.  I am so good at procrastinating.  If I could turn that into a full time job, I'd be rich!  I am really glad the recycle guy doesn't have to physically pick the bin up to empty is. Yesterday I purged papers and magazines.  It was painful but I did it.  I try to keep up with them but again, the procrastination set in.  It was amazing how few things I took out of the magazines.  I even pulled somethings out of my notebooks to make room for the new pages.

Bee report:  Yesterday was day 9.  It was time to fill the feeders and check to see if Her Royal Highness, the Queen Bee was laying eggs.  It appears she was doing her job but I cannot verify that as I stayed way back and used the zoom on the camera.  

It looks like another fabulous day to be touring around Blogland.  Start by visiting Judy L, so many great looking links already.

Design Wall Monday

Here are a few of my Sow-A-Long blocks.  I decided to add the sashing and cornerstones to 2 sides of each block as I went along.  I think I'll set it on point so the cornerstones go in the bottom right corner.  The 5 blocks on the right side of the wall are the scrappy blocks with black cornerstones.  See the basket?  I had to take the sashing off that one and put it on right.

I printed off Bonnie's paper piece page for the baskets and when I started putting the sashing on, my block was too small......So I added background to make it the right size.  I don't like it, it's off center and I'm going to make new blocks.  I had to save the pattern to my computer and then print it...just like her instructions say to.

Slow and steady goes the sewing room project.  A friend asked about it today.

How's the sewing room?  Is it done?  All done?

Slow!  And no and no!!  I keep getting stalled.  Knitting, sewing, outside, can't get a helper, don't want to.  

It has to be complete this week.  I need some serious sewing time!  

Check other design walls that have linked to Patchwork Times. 

Sunny Day On The Farm

DJ getting loves from Mae.

This past Wednesday, DJ had a terrible limp.
I took him to the vet and was told he has old man knees.
He is taking an anti inflammatory medication.
He is supposed to take it easy.
He will, after his little people go home.

Mike and Ernie doing some work with the queen so she can be released from her little box.

This is Ernie's first day doing bee work. 

He wasn't taking any chances, hence the gloves. 

I think they look cute in their bee suits.

Nothing's more fun for Elliot than a good wiggly tree branch.

Leland, Corbin and Mommy stayed home, I think the boys were napping. 

Smart boys.  

A bit of quiet time for Mommy.

I took several pictures of Miss Whitey but she kept moving. 

This must be her good side.

I drug the big chick pen/stock tank outside so the chicks could work 

on their tan and see what sunshine was all about.

I think it's time to make them an outside pen. 

They are still too little to go in with the big chickens.

They still need their heat light.  

It froze here again last night.

This is outside waiting for me to help unload.  

I guess I better get my gloves on.  

Really, I would rather sew!

Maybe later.

The Bees Are Here

Today was bee day at the farm.  Crystal and Mike picked up 2 boxes for us and 2 for themselves.  We went to the fair last August and Mike spent quite a bit of time talking to the bee man.  The next thing I know, we are both going to become bee farms.  Well that is if you can call 2 hives at each place bee farms.  We call it the beginning. 

 I was quite surprised at how the bees were packaged.  I don't know how I thought they would show up because this is really is Ernie and Mike's project and I am pretty much clueless.  I love that the kids are so excited but a bit scared at the same time.  Which is the way it should be.

See the storage container behind Mike's head?  To the right of that is where the hives are.  Crystal and Mike carried the bee boxes up to the hives.  I think by now we are on trip 4 up the hill.  Once everything was up there, I think it went pretty fast.  I don't know what Mike thought though.  LOL

He has read everything he can get his hands on about bees and beekeeping and has become quite knowledgeable about all of it.  He is our Bee Whisperer.  I guess I shouldn't call him City Boy anymore.

I was quite impressed with him as he reached into the bee box to take out the little box that held the queen.  Look, no gloves.  I realized I was holding my breath.  I didn't have a clue what would happen but I had some pretty vivid images of a swarm.  There is a method to getting her out and set up in the hive. I think she gets released in another couple days.  Then the bees were dumped into their new home.

TaDah! Hive 1 is done and he lived through it!  Within a few minutes, hive 2 was set.

Look at Crystal, she was videoing while he was working and I was hiding.  She kept moving closer and closer.  I posted some photos on Facebook and this is copied from there.

• Bert  The basic kit only comes with one protective outfit?

  6 hours ago · 
• 

  Mike  No Bert, I only bought one. She had to show how tough she is. But, she wasn't the one with alarm pheromone all over her, so they left her alone. As you can see, i'm covered in them! These 2 hives were super gentle. Not one sting. Came home to do my 2, and I got stung twice from the same hive.

Design Wall Monday

I've been a bit of a slacker in regards to my sewing room rearranging. I have a ton of excuses and I'm sure they are all good-not really. I sewed a bit, I knitted a lot. Yes, the mini blocks finish at 2". I love them!

The purple mini is ready to quilt. Kathy at Kathy's Quilts did a great post on how she prefers to quilt her minis. Thanks Kathy, I will follow your lead when I quilt mine.

And I decided I was not going to be left out of Barrister's Sow-A-Long at Barrister's Block and spent some time printing and cutting and organizing and sewing. I am making 2 of each block. One is pure scrappy with whatever makes me happy at the time, the other is pink, cream and brown scrappy. I should be caught up before the next set of blocks are posted.

There are lots and lots of great DWN posts today. I'm headed over to Patchwork Times to see what's happening around Blogland.