My Fabulous New Printer

Expression ET-2750 EcoTank All-in-One Supertank Printer

I want to do a quick share with you all about my new printer.

 I am in printer heaven.  

No longer do I need to worry about if I have enough ink to print my patterns.

I buy and print a lot of pdf patterns!

See on the front where the colors are,?

I can see my ink levels.

When I need more, I can jump on Amazon and order and it will be here in a couple of days.

I don't even have to leave the house. 

The info for the printer says the ink in the tanks will last a very long time.

Cartridges do not.

I figure in a year, I will have paid for this printer and 

the new ink by not buying replacement. cartridges.

I've had this for about a month now and I have printed lots of pages.

I've used very little ink. 

Not often I am giddy over a product but I am with this printer!

I had to call in one of my gurus to set it up for me.

I probably could have done it but I know when to not try.

She had it up and running in no time!

So if you are in the market for a new printer,

I highly recommend this one.

No affiliation, yadda yadda yadda....

Design Wall Monday

There wasn't much quilting happening around her this past week.

We made a quick trip to the beach on Tuesday, 

attended 4th grade graduation Friday,

helped put on a big picnic and our son got married on Saturday.

On Sunday I barely moved.

Wednesday and Thursday I sewed. 

I have a pretty fabulous knit fabric stash.

If you are in the market for some nice knits,

check out Knitpop.

I made myself some  2 new tops.

The camo top was my tester the week before.

I really like Love Notions patterns.

These are all from the Rockford Raglan pattern.

I also have made several Laundry Day Tees.

I'm a big gal and I love my shirts to be flowy, not showy!

Today we head back to the beach for several days.

There will be some block construction happening there.

Check out the quilters that are actually working on quilts this week at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Quiltathon Plans Gone Astray

Judy L at Patchwork Times was hosting a Quiltathon that started Thursday.  

When she first announced it, I was so excited.  

I started making my plans.  

You know what they say about plans...

I'm OK with the change in plans.  

Thursday we went to the fair.

The fair is so much more fun with kids.

Friday was spent running around town.

Here, there, everywhere.

Lots of knitting time.

After another trip to town in the morning and more knitting time, 

I spent most of Saturday canning green beans.

Ernie worked around outside.

Later in the afternoon, we went for a walk up the hill to check the bees.

  Then it was Saturday night pizza picnic on the deck

with Crystal and the kiddos.

Finally today I played with fabric.  

I sewed on my Pineapple Crazy Blocks this morning while Someone slept in.

I needed to get these fabrics ironed and ready to cut for the next 2 strips swaps.

Now I'm going to cut my strips and get them ready to mail tomorrow. 

I got a lot done in the last 4 days.

I guess that's a good way to spend my Quiltathon time.

The Layout

I made some time this afternoon to lay out the Pineapple Blossom blocks.  I am now letting it rest and will come back to it later to make sure I like the looks of it.  I'm sure there will be some twisting and turning somewhere.

This quilt has such fun fabrics.  Old fabrics and new fabrics. I just now see where my aqua spots are going to need some moving around.  

The quilt blocks were not the only things layed today.  One of my spring chicks layed her first little egg today.  I am thrilled.  The first one of the 8 chicks.  5 of my young hens are Buff Orpingtons They are such good chickens and great layers.  We should be overrun with eggs soon.  Simple pleasures....

Pesky Word Verification

I finally found an excellent tutorial at Michele Made Me on how to disable that pesky 2 word verification thing. I've pretty much been afraid to try much on the blog because I don't want to lose any thing.

But this tutorial has excellent graphics and walked me right through it. I sure hope it sticks!!

Thanks for leaving me comments. They always make my day.

Thanks to Michele Made Me for the tutorial. I hope by passing the link along it will help you too.

Next I am going to learn how to put tabs on my page. That should be interesting. :)) And one day I might go in and redo my post labels......so much work, so little time. But first I am going to read a little bit of Michele Made Me.

All We Need Is...

Love

I made this last year.

I hung it up on the wall of photos.

I have only taken it down once to show off at retreat.

I love it.

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!

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.

What Not To Do...

...and how to fix it.

I decided this morning instead of sewing for just a few minutes, I would spend 1 uninterrupted hour working on my Golden Harvest quilt. I'm paper piecing the outer border. I'm working each step, no problems, easy peasy. I should have it finished within the hour.

This is what I'm supposed to do. Fold the paper back, place the ruler on and trim the fabric.

Unless you don't pay attention and do this...

That's right, I did it! This is what happens when you don't fold the paper back and place the ruler on the line and cut. Stuff like this makes me suck the air right out of the room!

So I get out the tape and patch the paper back together. Take off the too small strip and cut another.

Oh yes, I cut it wrong! Good thing there was extra fabric from cutting these strips. I hope I don't mess up this color again because I'm out of the extra for this one and I don't want to cut into the extra yardage.

All is well in the Quilting Room now. I've finished my cuppa and I'm allowing myself to finish up this section before I move onto the laundry basket. That laundry basket has waited this long, it can wait a bit longer. That's my story..............

Hanging My Head In Shame

I was so excited when Judy L started the 2011 UFO Challenge. I couldn't wait to get started. I made my list, posted my intentions and completed January's project.


Then I moved on to February's project. I did nothing about it in February and waited to load the top until March 19th. I am embarrassed to say it has been on the frame for weeks. I knocked the timing out and I am still tweaking and it is not going well. It would go better if I went in there and worked on it until I had it perfect but I don't. I'll fiddle with it for a while, get discouraged and sit down and sew instead. So February's project is staring at me all the time. It makes me feel bad about myself. :>(


When March's project was chosen, I was so excited to put those blocks together into a finished top. I am not saying this UFO is done until it is quilted and bound.

These are the blocks for April. I took them out of the bag to take this picture last month. I put them back in the bag. My Mojo was missing so these were not even thought of. Again, looking at them makes me feel bad.


This little beauty is May's UFO. I think I have a few more blocks stashed away to add to this, maybe not...I don't know. With a new grandbaby due in October, I am excited to work on this one.

With the return of the Mojo, I have been busy, but I haven't been working on my UFOs. I plan to change that but not today. Today is a super nice sunshiny day and I am going outside to enjoy it. Ernie is on the tractor and I have a couple projects for him. It is supposed to rain again tomorrow......I'll sew then.

Do You Coupon?

I do. I always have, sometimes I'm more focused on it than other times. When my children were young, they hated it! They would get so embarrassed but that didn't stop me. Heck, it's free money and if the manufacturer's didn't want me to use their coupon, they would not have made them available to me. Does this make me a tightwad or a cheapskate? Yes. Do I care? No. We have worked hard for our money. I will continue to work hard to spend it wisely. So now with this new zip in my step, my coupons are now organized in an old 3 ring binder. I have wanted to do this for 30 years! It took days of working on it and now it is fabulous and so easy to use.

With the new Extreme Couponing show on TLC, a new fire has been lit it me to be more focused on my grocery shopping. (The more I read about these people on the show, the more I understand that most of what was on the shows had been encouraged by the show producers and they don't shop that extreme in real life. Or at least they didn't. ) I do not shop that extreme. I do not need 60+ bottles of mustard, but if I have the coupons for 5 or 10 and the sale is good enough that I would get it for free or almost free, why wouldn't I get 5 or 10??? Do I need 1000 tubes of toothpaste? No, but if I could get that many for free (well maybe not 1000!) and give them away, yes I would.

I have always had a stocked pantry. It's just what I do. I also go through times when I only use what is in the pantry and freezer without going to the store. I often challenge myself to plan my weekly menu using what I have stocked in my kitchen freezer without taking anything out of the big freezer. I have gone weeks without going into a grocery store. I seldom pay full price for anything. I garden and I can and we eat well--maybe too well.

I sit down and clip my coupons, put them in my notebook and make my grocery list according to what is on sale. I am lucky to have 3 stores close together that have pretty good sales. I also have Winco and Costco that I keep shopping lists for. I do not make special trips to town (10 miles away) just to "go to the store", I plan my errand day to go everywhere I need to go, in the order I need to go to them. I do not enjoy shopping and want to go in, get what I need and get out!

Now I need to organize the rest of my life. But not today~~~

Stash Building

Today is the Stash Builder Bazaar put on by the local quilt guild. I wait for this day every year! We are at the church long before the doors open and usually inside a few minutes early--the ladies are so nice and are anxious to get started. There were fewer tables this year, makes me wonder if the ladies don't have any more stash to sell......I hope they have more for next year!

This is my $19 worth of goods. The rooster wallhanging kit was $5, 5 yards of fabric for $5, 2 scrap bags for $2 each and an assortment of scraps for $5. I also bought 36 new or almost new cones of serger thread in 2 nice cases for Crystal and if she doesn't want them, I'll keep them.

On the way home, I stopped at Subway to get lunch for us and then it's birthday party day for Jonah. Now I'm going to get out my GO Cutter and do something with the bag of background fabrics. I have a plan!!!

It's been a fun day so far, with more fun times to come.

It's Back...

...and I'm one happy quilter! My Mojo is back and here to stay for a while! I think all it took was posting to DWM and finally sitting down and making some major progress on something. And this quilt makes me happy.

It's the first one in Bonnie's Adventures with Leaders and Enders book that I wanted to make and I'm finally making it. The borders are all cut and the pieced border is sewn into sections waiting for the last few sections that are still being sewn as leaders and enders.

Thank goodness for the timer though or nothing else around here would get accomplished ~ like dinner or laundry or housework. That's where I'm headed now ~ the last load of laundry and then the kitchen. It's chicken enchiladas tonight and my first adventure at home made tortillas.

Focus on Finishing

I never imagined how hard it would be to for me to stick to one project. I know I can do it but gosh, I have to force myself to not pick up something else to work on. The photo shows the remaining blocks waiting to be sewn into rows for the RRCB mystery. I'm sewing it in sections and I'm on section 2 of 3. I am loving this quilt and cannot wait to use it.


So I have come up with a plan for the week. I have a white/silver board that I use for my Focus on Four lists. These are the projects I want finished this week. I've been using this method to keep myself on track for a while now. But I have never planned the week out like this.

I make my own rules and now I need to follow them. Even if it's just for this week. I am giving myself a choice of projects to work on. Maybe that will keep me on track a little better and I can reduce the height of Mt. ToBeQuilted.

We woke up this morning to a bit of snow on the ground. I haven't listened to the news at all so I have not idea how much is expected. I'm just going to go into my hidie hole and check on it later.

2010 Memories

This is a photo taken at The Pomeroy Farm Quilt Festival this summer. I loved this display! It makes me smile thinking that my husband and my father would never, ever have worn that shirt or those pants. Now that pink dress, I love! I had several dresses that style but I was never brave enough to wear that pink!

I went back through my blog to see what I had accomplished this year. I was amazed at the number of quilt tops I made! 19! I made 19 quilt tops and turned 8 of those into quilts. That means I have 11 more on Mt. ToBeQuilted.

This is my list of finishes for 2010:
19 quilt tops, 8 quilted
5 UFOs
3 bags
4 wall hangings
1 rug
6 pair of socks knitted
4 hats knitted
2 scarves knitted

WOW! That surprised me. Of course there are some projects that have been started and are in the can't be counted yet category. Which leads me to my word for 2011. FINISH

My 2010 word was Simplify. My 2 goals were to learn to quilt feathers and learn to use my EQ5. Well, I did quilt feathers on one quilt....decided maybe I really don't want to do them, I do pantographs and meander much better. Maybe I'll try again, maybe not. I did learn to use EQ5 and then bought EQ7 and have been using it like crazy. And we did simplify our lives even more. We got rid of alot of crap that we never used. We aren't done yet but we are well on our way.

My goals for 2011 look pretty simple:

• Continue to simplify.
• Concentrate on finishing one project before starting another.
• Stay current with the BOMs, quilt alongs and challenges that I have committed to.
  

I think that's enough motivation for me for now. I can always add to my list if I want to.

I hope 2010 was a fabulous year for you and I hope 2011 will be even more fabulous!

A Love Note From Taylor

And she is so right!

Love you girlfriend!

Time Flies

Look at this little stinker! Last Friday, Leland turned 1. I wasn't ready for that but what I really wasn't ready for was this! He took a big box, pushed it to the couch and almost got all the way onto the couch! Today he will probably climb up there without the aid of the box. When did that happen???

Today marks Ernie's first week with the new knee. I tell you what, this has been quite a week for both of us. He has never experienced anything like this. Always healthy with the exception of an occasional cold or flu and you know how men are when they don't feel good...... He is trying really hard not to be too demanding or whiney, but sometimes... Compared to this, his shoulder injury and other things were just bumps and bruises. Each day he gets better and in a few weeks, hopefully he will forget the pain and suffering and look forward to having the other knee fixed.

I am learning alot about myself. I don't feel like I am a good caregiver. I'm very tired and sometimes I am kind of short and snarky. I know I need to take care of myself too but that isn't always easy. After I do a couple more little household chores, he is going to nap and I am going to go in and sew. That will make me feel better. Even if it's just for a few minutes! Then I might take a nap.

All I Need....

...are a few more hours in my day! I have so much to do and so many places to go that right now I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Thank goodness my list is in order! What if I forget to pick up Taylor. What if I forget to pick up the things Ernie asked me to get for him. What if I forget to get the groceries. What if, what if, what if...........

The library! I forgot to write the library on my list! It's there now. Thanks for reading my vent. I feel better right now......see ya later~too much to do~~~

**Afternoon edit: Everything has been marked off the list. I was early to pick up Tay, had lunch with friends, did the library and groceries. Now to mark a few things off the home list.

The Ugly, The Bad, The Good...

...Or Mind If I Cry???

The Ugly:
I went into our spare room this morning to put some things away. I found a 5 gallon bucket of paint had split open and was all over the floor. Before I thought to take a picture, I cried. I started to clean up the mess with a dust pan, scraping the paint into a box that I had put inside a garbage bag. Then I remembered to take a picture.

The Bad:
I haven't been in this room for over a week, so I have no clue how long it has been this way. I've been going to use this paint to paint my pantry shelves.....oh, I don't know, 2 years ago. I don't know why the bucket split but it did and it's an ugly mess. I walk by this door several times a day.....it's kept shut-we call it the scary room. How could I not smell the paint fumes???

The Good:
We haven't redone the floor in this room yet. It's been a catch all for a long time. This summer I finally got it almost all cleaned out. There isn't too much stuff on the floor where the paint spilled. Just an empty box and a plastic bin full of shirt flannel. Thank goodness it was a plastic bin! No fabric was damaged in the mess.

I bought a steam mop a couple months ago. I am going to use some old towels as my cleaning pads and clean up the rest of the paint. Then I'll have to take a trip the the garbage transfer station to get rid of the paint mess. JoAnn's isn't too far from there---I see a new GO! die in my near future!

Words of Wisdom:
Never, ever store paint in your house.

The Moral of This Story:
Always look for the good. I'm never going to paint the shelves. I get to get rid of the paint. The floor is clean. I get a new die....