We Have A Winner!

Through a very scientific method-numbers written on paper, put in a bowl, then mixed up-we drew a winner for the fabulous prize I offered while begging for help with the UFO on What's On My Design Wall Monday post. Several people posted VERY good ideas and now I have a plan and have actually worked on my plan. Yeah. Thank you all for your ideas and inspiration.

Congratulations to Julie from Through the Barn Door. I "met" Julie while blog hopping and visit her blog often. On Monday I will be mailing Julie her prize package and will show it off to you after she receives it. I don't want to spoil her surprise. ;-)

How much do you love my photo today?? Miss Clella loves shoes. She isn't fussy about who's shoes she wears. Her boots go lovely with Elliot's crocs. If she could figure out a way to wear all the shoes she has collected, she would be even happier.

There is a new infomercial on tv for some fabulous garden groom thingiemabob and from what these happy people are telling me, I gotta have this thing! I must go now and turn off the tv before I.....

......punching the tv sounds so violent!!!

The Mojo Is Home!

Yeah, the Mojo is home to stay for a while! I hate it when it goes away and comes back for a little while, only to leave again. But it's back in full force now. And for that, I am happy. I decided to make this big post before I lose my pictures on my computer. This brand new computer is giving us fits! And yes, I have things backed up! Weird, I know!!

Last week at Marian's I made my 2 June blocks for the Stashbuster BOM and yesterday I did the 2 for July. I am in love with this quilt finally. I'm so happy to be caught up with the blocks. I hope I continue this new trend I have going! Having the July blocks so early is kind of scary for me......what if I forget about this by August!

This beauty is the 2007/8 BOM from the Carol Doak Yahoo group. I finally got the fabric for the sashing and borders. This morning I made my star cornerstones for the center and now I am sewing the rows together. I'm hoping to have this UFO marked off my list soon.
Speaking of UFOs...Here is my plan for Bamma's Flower Garden. Thanks to everyone for the fabulous ideas. I have renewed energy for this now and have even completed a couple blocks for the side borders. I have to make a trip to the quilt shop tomorrow to find the green fabric I want for the grass/picket fence area I have planned. Ideas are still welcome and your name will be added to the others in the drawing. Fun time!

This morning, UFO Mom posted the next UFO number for our small group. It's #6. My UFO is a mystery from a different online group.........yeah, I belong to several.....and I've never been happy with the final border, the binding is even made. I have some fun fabric to use for the back and I've decided I am going to get it quilted and finished and give it to my friend Nadine for her charity. Someone else will love it. And besides, I have 3 new pantographs to try out!

What's On My Design Wall Monday

It's Monday and Judy at Patchwork Times has reminded us to show our design wall. This is my wall as of this morning. I am asking for some help with this one. If you enlarge the picture, ignore the extra business in the picture. :) (And please ignore the wrinkles......I should have ironed those before taking a picture!)

Way back in 2001, I was involved in a row robin with an online group. My row robin was titled Bamma's Flower Garden. One lady had some life issues and couldn't complete her row so I was going to do it. I folded the rows up, put them in a bag, put them away. All these years this has been on my UFO list and I've ignored it. Not totally ignored it, it's been nagging at me all this time.

When my small online group started the UFO challenge, this quilt was listed first. Guess what May's number was? Guess who just pulled this project out of the box? Guess when the new number will be called? Answers are One, Me, Tomorrow!

I don't know what to do to this quilt top. I have some of the background fabric left, just under 2 yards and I have quite a bit of Kona white. And lots and lots of other fabric. I even have some books! Right now it measures 60" across and the way it is right now, not sewn together, not quite 60" long.

What would you do? I think I need a row of white background between the bottom 2 rows. I also think I need something very green for the bottom row. And I'd like to add some borders to make it wider. What I really need is to get going on this so I can call it finished.

Help me please, leave me a comment with an idea or 2 or 12 and I will put your name in for a drawing for something fabulous. I'll draw a winner Friday evening. Thanks in advance for your help.

I Think I Found a Little Mojo

I'm finally excited about sewing. Not so much quilting, although I did make 2 blocks for my Stashbuster Not So Ugly BOM while at Marian's on Wednesday.

I've been in need of a new swimsuit for a while now. After searching online shops, almost ordering fabric, I remembered I had done that a couple years ago. So I unearthed the box and found my pattern and spent this morning sewing this up. I was a bit excited when I tried it on the first time and it was a bit too big. Yeah! So I made my adjustments and now it's finished and ready for the real test, the hot tub. I think after my day, a nice soak is in order.

The baby chickens are growing like crazy. They are going to be ready for the big pen in no time at all--I'm thinking in 2 to 3 more weeks for the older girls. They sure are fun to watch.

Time to get dinner started. Friday night, pizza night. Yummers

Do You Know Where I Put My Mojo?

I can't find my sewing mojo. Do you know where I put it? I've been in my sewing room for short spurts of time trying to organize it. I figure if I work for 10 minutes at a day, I should have that room the way I want in in 46 days!!! That's really a good idea and I should start keeping track of the time I spend and see how close I am. ;~) What I need to do is just get in there and get busy.

I've been doing outside things. The "little girls" are growing like crazy and the "big girls" have been giving us eggs and I say thank you to them every day for that. The "boys" have settled down and like to lay by the pen and guard their new friends. I think they are just waiting for the day one of them escape! We plan(ned) to leash up the dogs and let the hens out this afternoon--I'm not doing this by myself--and see how the dogs react. ( I just let the dogs out, a robin was in the yard and they both took off after it. I don't think our hens will be free ranging. I do think Hubby will be making a chicken run this weekend.)

The garden is all planted and I'm seeing signs of corn and beans already-we planted the seeds on Saturday. It's been sunny here all week and is supposed to stay sunny for another week. I think I should turn on the water this morning for a while. It's hard for me to buy produce when I have it in my garden--I know, kind of a dorky thought but that's the way I think! Why should I buy tomatoes when I have 20 plants in the garden! Doesn't matter that there is not one plant with a tomato on it! The potatoes in garbage cans are doing awesome. I am having to cover the new growth every other day. I should have fresh potatoes in no time--I need them too, I didn't buy any!

I need to bake some bread, pizza crusts and hamburger buns . These recipes make the best breads I have ever made. Thank you ladies for sharing with us. I have meat in the fridge that needs to be prepared for the freezer. I found pork loin on sale at Safeway so I bought 3 to make into roasts, steaks and sausage. I tried one sausage recipe yesterday and will try a different one today to see which one will be the keeper. I'll let you know. I froze yesterday's sausage after making patties so today I will cook part of it up so I have some ready to use in the freezer and for pizza topping tonight.

Gotta get moving........I have lots of things on my list today.

What's On My Design Wall-Monday

Judy L over at Patchwork Times is having a Monday post "What's On Your Design Wall". This is what's on mine.

When I saw a photo of this quilt called Pig In A Poke, on one of my Yahoo Quilting Groups, I knew I wanted one like it. Within a few days, Jean, the gal that posted the picture, posted her instructions. I had a drawer full of 2 1/2" squares and a bin full of half square triangles. So I started making blocks. Pretty soon, I was working on the border. All of the sudden, I was putting blocks into rows. I am now ready to press this top and measure for the last 2 1/2" off white border and it will be ready to quilt. I still have a drawer full of 2 1/2" squares.......wonder what I can find next!


While Hubby was cruising through Craigslist today, he found an ad for 3 Buff Orpingtons/something cross hens. I called and they were right up the hill from my house! How cool is that. So Crystal and I jumped in the car and went to adopt these girls. They are used to free ranging and no dogs. Surprise, we have a pen and 2 very curious dogs. They have settled down now and so have the dogs--I hope. Let's hope we have fresh eggs in a few days.

Munckins Meet The Chicks

Elliot was fascinated by by the baby chicks. These chicks are going have to be tough birds to live around here. I'm trying to handle each one several times a day so they will be friendly. See the water jug? That thing was too much money for what it is. I can't figure it out......something about adjusting that lid so the water flows to level itself. I say forget it, I'm going to get the simple water jars--something I can use!

Mae Mae didn't want to touch them at all! Get that thing a away from me now! She is the one that will make them strong birds. We put a big chunk of lumber down for her to stand on so she could see inside and that was as close as she wanted to be. She did discover how fun it is to pound on the screen and see the chicks run. Yip, they have to be tough birds to be here.


This picture is just too cute not to share. This girl was a total grub ball by the end of the day.

Does This Make Me A Chicken Farmer??

The boys are checking out the newest family members. DJ, on the left, wants to be the mom and Tony wants to play with the chicks. We brought home 10 chicks today. I wanted hens but they are hard to come by so I'll just be patient and spoil the chicks.

We got 2 Black Sex Links, 2 "Production" Rhode Island Reds, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 3 Black Australorps. I believe what the gal told me so we'll see if we have "Great Egg Layers".

It will be an adventure, especially teaching the bird dogs that these birds are family. Oh and the water thingie I bought, not so great--could be the operator but I'll let them use it until I find something better. Wish me luck!

I May Be In Serious Trouble

This DSL thing may cause some serious trouble around this house! I am having a heck of a time pulling myself away from the computer. I can see so many things so much faster and one blog leads to 6 others and the pages don't time out and the next thing I know the dryer buzzer is going off and I need to fold a load of clothes. And then I get sucked back in to blogland and then............. I am just like a kid with a brand new toy.

So I am going to show you a picture of a little part of the quilt I finished quilting a few days ago for my friend Nadine. I played with some line dancing and some loops. I need to practice both but she is very happy with the quilt.

Now I am going to get my shoes on and go to town to pick up Hubby's medicine. It should have been mailed but it seems that I have a problem refilling on line. They say you have to put in all of the correct numbers! Imagine that!! So like the good wife I am, I will go get it so he has his medicine for today. I wish he would say something before he is totally out so I can check up on myself. I need a watch dog!

Playing

It's a big day for me!!! I finally have DSL. WoooHooo! So I'm seeing if blogger will let me upload 3 regular sized photos without resizing them. Oh yeah, I am being super brave. And it worked!!! I'm giddy with excitement. :~)

Let's see what we have here, first off is Clella and Elliot playing with the wagon and rocks. Elliot loves rocks and because he does, so does Clella. Next is our old house. This is the front side.

The lilac bloom is as exciting as the DSL for me. I bought 2 little lilac starts several years from the Hulda Klager Lilac Garden I have babied those bushed all this time. Last year I had one bloom. This year both bushes are full and beautiful.

For years I've said that I want my yard to be kind of like a park. Not all fancy schmancy, just full of bushes and flowers. Slowly this is happening. Someday it will be like I want it but for now, I'll just keep working on things and try to keep up.

OK, here we are, it's time to click on publish post.......hopefully it worked.

ttfn

The Chicken Condo

I am going to have some happy chickens. I just wanted a simple chicken tractor for a couple of hens but Hubby decided we needed a fancy house and eggs for your kids that want them. We spent the weekend working on it and now it's ready for occupants.

How sweet is Elliot bringing Poppy a bottle of cold water!! And of course, Tony must be right where the action is.

I was kind of wishy washy about getting chickens. As a teenager, I spent some quality time working at my Uncle's fryer farm. There were thousands of fryers in 2 barns. Then as a young wife, we had farm animals and raised chickens from Uncle's farm for meat--we never had any layers and I'm not too sure why. Now that we are trying desperately to simplify our lives, he decides we need a few hens. I'm thinking that is not simplifying...maybe it is.

So hens will be coming to the farm as soon as I can find some. I don't really want chicks but I may have to get them. I just hope he doesn't want to get a goat!!! No offense to the goats but...

I Should Be...

...Quilting.

Instead I've been making blocks. I did finish a charity quilt this morning but I haven't taken a picture of it yet. I made the 2 May blocks for my Stashbuster BOM. They are the top left and top center in the photo. I think I am really starting to like these blocks. And it is very exciting to be caught up.

I've been thinking today about how I want to sash them. I know I don't have enough of the cream background that I'm using so I may have to find a different cream. Whatever I decide, I want to do it soon so I have it when we are finished with the blocks. That is one thing I have learned with the Stashbuster group, use what you have, only buy what you need. (Don't tell anyone but I don't always follow the rules!)

Another Retreat Has Come and Gone

And what fun we had! I have sore cheek muscles--all cheeks--from laughing and sitting! My stomach hurts from laughing. Just a look or a sound or a simple word can send me into hysterics.

Show and tell was awesome and I was very happy to show my finished Orange Crush quilt. I wrote about finishing the top in my post for April 9th . It is now residing on my guest bed.

I spent most of the retreat working on another quilt as you go string quilt. I have one more row to add and then put the binding on and it will be ready to give to Nadine for a local charity. I even gave a demo on how I join the blocks-boy talk about pressure! On Saturday night, Berta gave a lesson on locker hooking. I now have another obsession. It is so fun to visit with everyone and the inspiration from everyone is almost overwhelming.

I love going to the retreat but Monday morning I'm not worth anything. I spent most of the day today trying to get a few things done around here but as my friend Karen so eloquently put it, I had a retreat hangover! It took until after 2 this afternoon before I finally felt like a normal person. It might have helped if I could have went back to sleep this morning but I had too many ideas in my head to settle down. It's early to bed for me tonight.

Hubby is watching his rasslin' and I am going to pull out the string quilt and see if I can make some progress on it. I have a full day of quilting tomorrow so I better sew tonight.

TTFN

Hooray, Hooray, The First Of May

Hooray, Hooray, the first of May is a naughty little song that I learned 20 some years ago when I was driving school bus. You can only sing it one day a year and I sing it all day long. :-) I didn't learn it from a child, I learned it from a woman who loves life. I can hear her laughter right now.......sing your heart out Bo.

I haven't been too busy in the sewing room this week. I do have my Orange Crush almost quilted but haven't touched it since Tuesday. I have been packing a bit for the retreat next Thursday. I have another string quilt as you go ready to work on. I have a couple other projects I am taking. Stashbuster sent out the new BOM so I will get that ready to go. I have a three tote bags to finish--maybe I'll get them done this weekend. It's supposed to be rainy for the next several days. I have a few things to work on outside today so will do that and enjoy the last day of sunshine for a while.

The photo was taken looking through kitchen window (yes, it needs washed!). I love looking out the window. A few days ago the flowering plum tree on the right was filled with butterflies. I have never seen so many at one time. Of course by the time I got the camera, they had flown away. The azalea bush right in front of the window was one my Gramma planted in the 60's. She recieved it at Grampa's funeral. So it's been pampered for 45 years. I also have a climbing rose and a peony. But with those 2, I've had to fight and scream to save them. They are finally in their permanent homes, never to be moved again. A couple years ago, they had a near death experience when Hubby got carried away with the Round Up. I'm happy to report that both the plants and the husband are doing fine.

But first, I get to go to town (3 days in a row-that is not me) and do some serious grocery shopping. The hall cupboard is almost empty and that makes me nervous. Not nervous really, just twitchy. I like looking at it packed full of goods. But I am so good at not going shopping that I let it get low.

Here I go, I'm going to get there before the hoards of people do. Get in, get what I want, get out, get home!!! I wonder if I can put this off for a few more days...hmmmmmmmmmmm

No More Flu At My House!

This has been an interesting week. We have both recovered from the flu bug and it is not welcome in the house again! Ever! I know hubby is a better nurse than I am but I am a better patient. I just want to be left alone. Don't tell me I need to eat or drink anything. Just let me be. He is a whiner. I'm sorry you don't feel good, I'm sorry nothing tastes good, I'm sorry you feel horrible! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Now go back to sleep and leave me alone!

I finished my string quilt Thursday (while I was hiding from hubby) and will give it to a local charity. I have enough strings in the basket to make at least 2 more quilts and I have 5 bags of strips and strings that I bought last week at the bazaar that I haven't opened yet. One bag is crammed full of blue and cream fabric so I will save that one for a project by itself. Maybe, maybe not.

I need to start making a list for the retreat. It's going to be May 7th before I know it. I can't wait to spend time with my quilty friends. Spending time at a retreat is good for my soul. I'll still have to come home during the day to let the dogs romp outside for a while and I will probably come home to sleep. It is only a few miles and my bed is so nice.

Now I am going to go grind some wheat and bake some bread......

Stay Away From Us

We have the flu at our house! Hubby spent last weekend at a hunter's safelty class full of kidlets. Bless their little hearts, someone in the class shared the flu and he, being the sweetie that he is, shared with me. I don't want to share with you so please Stay Away! He is on his second day home from work and I hope he is well enough to go back tomorrow---you all know what I mean by that!

I had been laying down on the couch this morning, trying to get warm, got up for a bit, came back to the couch and Mr. Tony had made himself comfie in my spot. So I covered him up thinking he would jump down and he didn't budge. I had to take a picture. Ya can't miss a good blog photo.

I'm done in now, so I'm going to see if the couch is empty. If it isn't, I'll give in and go to bed.

Quiltathon Progress

Judy at Patchwork Times is hosting another Quiltahthon this weekend. I have been quiltathoning along and have made a little progress.

Saturday was the Clark County Quilter's Stash Builder's Bazaar. I met my friends early and we started to shop. Oh did I shop! It is a Stash Builder's Bazaar after all. I came home with 3 bags full (Bah, Bah, Black Sheep, have you any wool?) of great fabric, strings, strips, a book, 3 patterns and inspiration.

We had planned to all meet for lunch but I started feeling horrible so I came home and took a nap. Feeling better, I got busy on my string blocks. I finished them and then went outside for a while. It was a very nice spring day and me and the dogs needed the fresh air.

Hubby is taking the final training for his certificate to be a Hunter's Safety Educator. I am spending most of the weekend alone. Poor me! I think not! This morning, I gave myself until 10:00 to work in the sewing room and I got 3 rows put together with 3 ready to go. Bindings are cut and pressed so this gem will be complete in no time. I need to do a few things around the house and then I will go to Grandson Jonah's 5th birthday party. I embroidered a dirty 4 wheeler on a sweatshirt for him. I hope I get a picture of him with the shirt on. Reminder to me: Put camera in your bag! (I put the camera in my bag and left my bag with the camera in it locked in the car. He liked his shirt I think but he liked his new motorcycle more!)

Hope your day is filled with sunshine.

Friday's Design Wall

It's Friday and I have new things on my design wall. I've been spending time this week jumping around from project to project.

I decided yesterday to clear off my cutting table. There were little 3" blocks that I had left over from 2 Quiltville mysteries. I took those parts and with some other scraps, created the 6 blocks on the right side of the wall. These will go into the orphan box with some other blocks. Someday, they will become a quilt.

I love string quilts and on Wednesday, we started talking about them. So this morning, I found the link with a great tutorial and sent it to my freinds. Jan at Sew Many Quilts - Too Little Time, has written this tutorial for Quilt As You Go blocks. I think it's wonderful that she is has such a following with her tutorial and QSYG blocks and that she is doing such good for the victims of the bush fires. Take the time to read her blog. You will want to help, if not there then find a local charity that needs your help.

After sending the links to my friends, I started looking at my baskets of strings and scraps. I found a huge yellow cotton print curtain. I started to tear it apart, you know--snip, tear, snip, tear......and then I had a thought! There was enough fabric in that one curtain to use for the back and the binding of a string quilt. I have a box full of batting scraps from trimming quilts and so I got busy. Just this afternoon, I have made these 7 blocks.

Hubby is at a class this evening and I think I will work on this until he gets home tonight. I was going to go into town and get dinner but I think I'll heat up some soup and call that dinner.

What's On Your Design Wall?

My design wall is a flannel back vinyl tablecloth. I don't know how old it is but I do know that I bought it at JoAnn's several years ago and it was 70% off and cheap--maybe less than $2. I bought a new one yesterday and it was $2.06 with a cute Easter print. I'll put it away until this one dies.

This morning I finished my BOM from Stashbuster Yahoo Group. I am really liking the way the blocks turn out. And the fact that I am keeping up. So these blocks will be folded neatly in half and go back into the project bag with the fabric and wait patiently for May's blocks.

I am auditioning border and binding fabric for the wallhanging. I bought Deb Karasik and Janet Mednick's book, Quilt Mavens and decided to do a simple project with my batik and hand dyed scraps that I bought a while back.

As I was sitting here skimming through the book, I think I will investigate a pieced border for the wallhanging. They have such cool designs and now I don't really want a plain border.......Maybe that black/paisley batik can be the background with some bright spikes...........Oh, the wheels are spinning fast.

I had planned going to go to the kitchen and making a couple loaves of bread, baking Hubby some cookies so he'll stop whining but with my last brilliant thought, that may be put off until next week...........and the plan to later getting the quilt loaded that has been sitting here laughing at my lack of ambition has just been put on hold!

What's on your design wall???

Do You Know What Day This Is?

Yes, it is Good Friday. It is also the day for the next UFO # to be picked for our small online group. Why am I so exited??? Because I am on a mission to reduce the number of UFOs I have. I want FOs!!!

This is UFO #7. I started this in October 2007 at a quilt retreat. And you guessed it, it's another design from Bonnie of Quiltville fame called Diamond-In-A-Square Strings. I framed mine different from Bonnie by using a different 2" strip around each block.

I remember how intrigued some of the gals were with my sewing on old phone book pages so I did a quick lesson. I don't know if anyone else has made this project but I do know that I turned some of the ladies on to Quiltville's site.

This has been sitting in my to be quilted pile for far too long. I have some flannel that was given to me and I will use that for the back and then the quilt will be donated. Now I am excited to get it finished.

I have another pile of strings on phone book pages that I have been working on. I have the layout in my head. I hope I don't loose it in there. I will take these with me to the next retreat and work on them there. It's a great project for chatting and sewing.

Another Top For the To Be Quilted Pile

I finished the Orange Crush top! Yeah!! I'm not sure when I started this and I'm too lazy right now to go back and look. (I did look it up, we started it March 31, 2008 and the final clue was given June 7, 2008.) I'm still not sure how much I like it. I'll decide after the quilt is finished. If I don't like it, someone else will. But it is going to find a home on my bed for a while so don't get all excited Little Miss DeeDee!




It was close on the border fabric . After cutting the binding and inner boarder strips, I didn't measure how much fabric was left. This was a piece that was given to me a while back and I'm thinking it is from the late 70s, early 80s. Something had been cut out of it but it looked like it would be enough. Forget that saying measure twice....I just cut. Then I sewed on the side boarders and made the top and bottom. After measuring, I was about 8" too short. So I dug through the garbage can, found all the leftovers and pieced them to get enough to finish the top. After all that, I had 3" leftover. Oh I would have figured something out. I just didn't want to make a new border and really didn't want to take off the ones that were already on.

I just pulled out the flanned that I want to use on the back and I'm about a yard too short. There is none of this in the garbage can but there is lots of flannel in the tub that would love to live on the back of this quilt. But for now, it goes on the to be quilted pile.

Not Much To Post About But ...

Here is another picture from our road trip last Friday. Several years ago, we would take the diesel powered motor coach (our converted school bus) and park beside the river to go sturgeon fishing. I loved to sit out and watch the ship and barge traffic up and down the Columbia River. I miss those trips. I told Hubby it's time to take weekend trips again but with the garden season coming up and his work season hopefully going full speed ahead, it might not be as possible as I want it to be!

Today I'll take Mr. Tony to the vet for some very necessary but unmanly surgery. Poor Baby! Then I will do some shopping at Freddie Meyer's to pick up the sale items and browse around while I wait for it to be time to arrive at Marian's. I am going to finish stitching the binding down on Ian's bear paw quilt.

I worked on UFO #27 yesterday. It is Quiltville's Orange Crush Mystery. It only needed the borders and I don't know why it became a UFO. Probably something very exciting came along and I was going to get right back to it. I figure if it takes 3 borders, that's 12 pieces--the pieced border was already done and ready to put on--and I put on 6 pieces. Hopefully today I can get the other 6 on. The binding is made and the backing fabric is out and ready to make.

Now I need to get to gettin'.

I Found The Bears

I just finished quilting my Where Are The Bears quilt. Yeah!!! This is going to Grandson Ian. The pattern is now for sale at Sunshine Quilts. I hope Judy creates another quilt for a quilt along. This one was lots of fun. And there are some gorgeous quilts that you can find links for here.

It was very important to me to use all fabric from my stash and I knew I wanted a flannel back. I made all the kiddos flannel pillow cases for Christmas so I pieced some of my extra flannel using Mary's Off Center 4 Patch method--sort of. Looking back, I wish I would have made it a 6 patch by sewing the camping fabric to the other side, but it's too late now. I'm happy I found bears to make it offiially a bear paw! I knew they would be there somewhere. A bear paw quilt should have some bears and bear paws don't ya think?!?

Later today I will sew the binding on and stitch it down Wednesday at Marian's. Or if I get extra ambitious, I'll sew it down before then! But now I need to go grocery shopping. Yippee.

Thanks Judy, I hope we have another play date real soon.

Day Trip With My Boys

Meet DJ and Tony.

We very seldom take a day trip. When Hubby asked me last night if I wanted to take the dogs to the beach, I assumed it would be for the weekend. So I am getting all my stuff ready and ask him how long we would be gone. He asks "What do you mean?" I say "How many nights, 1, 2, 3, 6?" He says "Just for the day. I have things to do over the weekend!" "Cool" I say, "Let's hit it then!"

I packed up a bag with a bit of dog food, bottle of dog water and a dish, a couple of towels and a spill kit--Tony is only 5 months old. ;-)

Our first stop was the wildlife refuge to let the boys out for a potty break. This is Tony's first big road trip so we didn't want to push it. This is about an hour from our house. As we were leaving, I asked Hubby to stop so I could get a picture. He did and DJ spotted the geese. The dog woofs from his toes and I thought the geese would fly away but they didn't.

Then we drove towards the beach and took a side road where Hubby did a road building job. He knew the dogs could run around and not get into trouble. Tony didn't potty while on the leash so we were getting concerned. After potty break and running around, we continued on. Next stop was lunch. Hubby has some stinky clam chowder and then some fish and chips, I had a shrimp panni. Yummm..........Then we gave the dogs our leftovers and a big drink of water.

Lunch was very expensive! And all I could think of was how much fabric I could have bought with that money!!! Shame on me, it was a date and I should have kept that thought buried but that's how my mind works now.

In Washington State, you can drive on the beach so we headed down to find a nice spot to park where no other people were around. We put the leash on Tony and DJ stayed close. After a bit, we let Tony go. Oh my gosh, you should have seen him run and play. We laughed so hard. I was very concerned about him running off but he stayed right by us. We got back into the Super Bronco and headed for home. We had to make a potty stop for me and they slept most of the way home.

It was an awesome day and now that my boys are all napping. I am going to sew!

No Foolin' April 1

Are you kidding me??? Are those snow flakes I see? Does SOMEONE have an awesome sense of humor or what??? And cold, oh not cold like in some places but I was running around outside the other day with no jacket!

And to top off the beginning of this day, I felt like crap. Headache, achie bones, cold, just felt crummy. I layed down on the couch to watch Project Runway reruns and woke up 2 1/2 hours later! (Speaking of PR--will they ever get the ugly lawsuit settled? I want my PR!)

Hubby came home from work early--or I'd still be sleeping. There is nothing like a good nap on the couch cuddled up in one of your favorite quilts.

I'd like to thank my dogs for leaving me alone so I could sleep. :-) Can April 2 be a nice warm spring day? I have a quilt show to go to and I'd like to leave my jacket at home.

A Closer Look

Here is a closer look at one piece of the focus fabric and the border print. I cut the cow strips out and pieced them together to get the narrow border on the top and the bottom. I didn't want to make it too much longer.

Later today I am going to go see about that cow spot flannel. Wish me luck.

Quiltathon Continues

When I get excited to complete a project, I let everything else slide by the wayside. This morning I wanted to finish my UFO #2 top. So I made some little pinwheels, added a side border and a row of cows across the top and bottom. It is going to make a great couch/nap quilt.

When I go to town again, I will have to go to our local quilt shop and see if she has any of the flannel cow spot fabric left. That is what I really, really want for the back but if she doesn't have it, I will have to create a back from all of the farm prints that I have.

I have several chunks of fabric left so I am going to piece together the binding and get it ready. Later today I am going to piece the back for the bear paw quilt but I must go dance with the vaccuum cleaner. I hate it when he starts yelling about being lonely.

Quiltathon Day 2

I had a very productive day today. First thing this morning, Hubby took the dogs for a ride to the store and got me a "fancy" coffee. Yummmm. I started sewing before they got back. I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish for this quiltathon and I have almost everything marked off the list.

I put the last border on the bear paw quilt this morning. Yeah! I have the flannel prewashed and ready to make the backing. I think that will be my project for tomorrow and maybe I can get it loaded on the frame.

Then I started working on my UFO #2, the cow print blocks. I finally decided how to set them together and 4 of the 5 sections are complete. I am hoping to get the last section done tonight and figure out if the fabric I have for the border will work or not. I'm thinking of a creative border treatment so it doesn't look like I didn't have enough fabric. HMMM, I may have to think on that one for a while. Not too long though, I only have until April 10 before the next number is drawn and I want to have this finished before that.

Thanks for the fun weekend Judy. Let's do this again soon.

Quiltathon Progress

I started slow this morning after a nice sleep in. Not too often do I sleep past 7 but I did today and it felt good. After I showered and putzed around for a while, I quilted a row on Crystal's quilt--that is her and her quilt in the photo. After she got here with the kiddos, we loaded up in her mommy missle and headed up to the local little town for a quilt show. We didn't stay long because someone was not in the mood for a quilt show. We did a quick walk around and decided to come home and have lunch and a nap.

While he napped, I finished the quilting on her quilt. It turned out awesome and I can mark that one off my list for today. Now I am going to go make BLTs for dinner and then I am going to get the borders put on my bear paw quilt and work on my UFO#2.

That's my plan, don't know if I'll stick to it.

TTFN

Weekend Plans

Busy, busy day for me so far today. Now I am taking a little blog break. This weekend Judy L at Patchwork Times is hosting another Quiltaton and I am planning on quiltatoning. I started my Quiltaton this morning. I have a plan that I am hoping works out for me.

The first quilt is one I finished this morning for my friend Marian. She found this cute fabric and made 2 small quilts from it and I donated my quilting time to her. She is a special lady and is very generous with her charity quilts. Click the photo to enlarge it and see how stinkin' cute that fabric is!

First thing this morning, after a few household chores and before finishing Marian's quilt, I worked on my bear paw top. I'd like the top finished this weekend. I sat down and sewed half square triangles together for a border.

I sewed the top and bottom border on, then sewed on a side border. When I looked at it, It looked weird. So I looked at the instructions and actually read them. I already knew I blew the size of the half square triangles. I was trying again to be an over acheiver--will I ever learn?--so I made a bunch of 2" HSTs. Then the instrucions come (after someone even warned me they may not be the same size) and said 3" HSTs. Being the rebel that I am (Ha!), I decided to use what I have made. No problem.

Then the weirdness at the corner. After looking closely at Judy's picture, I see I have them sewn wrong. I am not taking them off, I will leave them and call it a design decision. :-) I took the corner HSTs off and added a background square. It looks fine, just different from Judy's. Yes, a design decision.

So my plan for the weekend is this:
Finish Marian's quilt, put the remaining 3 borders on bear paw, load and quilt Crystal's green and pink quilt, make UFO #2 into a complete top.

Dinner is going to be bbq chicken pizza. Now I am going to make me some lunch and then load a quilt.

Starts and Stops

Lots of starts and stops this week. Not only in Crystal's quilt (which I just finished quilting) but in my general sewing the last few days. This is a beautiful quilt. I should be like my girls and ask if I can have it? Crystal, did you make this for ME??? That's how they do it. And I usually say yes.

It seems that every time I sit down to sew, someone calls, someone comes over or we need to leave. I'm not complaining--everything I have done the last few days has been fun!

Before quilting today, I made wheat bread from a recipe that Judy L of Patchwork Times shared today. OMG is it ever delicious. She uses fresh ground wheat, I used wheat flour out of a bag. My bread was awesome and this will be my wheat bread recipe from now on. Thank you Judy.

I think it's time for jammies and a good book. Tomorrow is sewing day at Marian's and I have all my things ready to go. It's supposed to be a nasty, rainy day so it will be a great day to spend with friends.

Where Are the Bears Step 4

I spent this morning putting the last of the step 4 borders on my version of Bears In The Farmhouse from Judy at Patchwork Times. Next I am going to count my remaining half square triangles for the next border. We will have the next step in a few days. I'm pretty excited about this quilt.

I spent the rest of the day with Elliot and Clella while Mommy went and did errands all by herself. Oh how I remember those days. When going to the grocery store alone was a treat. Sometimes I miss those days.

I am totally exhausted now but I need to fix some dinner. So I'll post more another time.

This Is A First!

This is a photo of my scrap basket. I've had this basket for a little over 3 years and this is the first time I have seen it empty since the day I brought it into my sewing room. I should have taken a photo of it before I started! It took me all day to get it empty, my shoulders are tired and my eyes are crossed but it's a job I can mark off my list for this week.

It holds lots of scraps. There were 4 pieces of yardage that are the thin fabrics so I hunked them up for string block foundations. Then all the other fabric was cut into 2 1/2" strips--my bin was almost emtpy, bricks, squares and half squares, 2" strips and strings.

My plan is to stay on top of my scraps now. I have a couple of zip bags full that need to be taken care of and I probably have others stashed but for now I'm feeling pretty darn good. I do know there is one bag from this summer when I bought a bag of scraps. Oh, I buy scraps! When you can cram a bag full of fabrics you don't have for only a few bucks, that's a bargain. I passed up a super sale this summer when the lady said I could have the whole basket for $5. It was the same size as my basket and I've kicked myself in the hinnie every since. I was trying to be so good. That will never happen again! I'll buy the darn scraps.

I collect scraps, I make scrap quilts, it's what I love, it's what I do, it's what I'll continue to do! Who will the next one be for? I don't know, I'll figure it out when I figure it out.

UFO # 2

UFO Mom has picked March's number. I will be working on # 2. These blocks were made in 2004 by members of another online group. We did a swap called SWAN-Swap Without A Name. I made one quilt from the blocks for a school auction for my Grandkiddos. Then these blocks were put away with plans to make a few more blocks and maybe make a couple charity quilts.

A couple of them were set on point for a center block but now I'm rethinking (actually I forgot what I had planned to do!) and may take the corners off.......I don't know. I'm going to leave them up on the wall and look at them for a few days.

I finished quilting one of Crystal's quilts. I have the second one loaded on the frame. After dinner, I'll wind some bobbins for her quilt and several more for a couple of charity quilts I am doing for my friend.

I spent a good part of the day cutting fabrics from my scrap basket. I'm not making a dent! We have a retreat in less than 2 months and I found a new (yeah, I know!) scrap project I want to work on.

Time to heat up the leftover roast beef dinner from the other night. Hubby came home hungry as a bear. I think I might take some pumpkin out of the freezer and make a couple pies tomorrow. It's supposed to start raining and be regular Pacific Northwest weather again so comfort food is calling me.

TTFN

It Will Not Be A UFO!!!

Remember back in Febraury? I know, that was last month and for my mind a long time ago. Well, I started Quiltville Bonnie's Strip Twist aka Super Bowl Twist because it was the project for Super Bowl Sunday. I started the quilt on February 1 and today I quilted it and will put the binding on it after dinner tonight. I'll stitch the binding down tomorrow at Sewing at Marian's.

I ordered some thread the other day from Columbia River Quilting. I love ordering from them, not only are they local, they are fast with their shipping. You know how it is when you are browsing around a webstore, you find things you need/want?? I've wanted Suzanne R. Earley's book, Meandering Magic for quite a while so I ordered it.

When I opened the book, it opened to page 15. This shows how to do Ribbon Curls. How awesome is that. My fabric has curls on it and I knew I wanted to do something curly but didn't know what or how. It had to be a sign. So I got out my pad of paper and my pencil and started to doodle. Then I went it and loaded the quilt and started. I thinks it's not too bad for the first time doing it. And I love that it will be done soon and not be a UFO.

My next 2 projects for the longarm are 2 of Crystal's quilts. I'm such a good Mom!!! And Judy gave us the next clue today for the bear paw project. And March's UFO number will be assigned this evening. I think I'll be okay with having things to work on.

March 11 - The quilt is finished! Yeah for me!

Do All The Math

The other day, I was bragging about having leftover half square triangles from my bear paw blocks to use in my depression block quilt. When will I learn to do the math? Not just some of the math but all the math. When you make 12 bear paw blocks with 16 half square triangles in each block, that equals 192 HSTs. I thought I was pretty clever making 252 of those little buggers.

Last night I was showing Hubby my blocks and I started thinking about the border. Judy used a whole lot of HSTs and the amount I had left after my blocks is only a drop in the bucket for a border and none for my other quilt. I love the look of the borders on her quilt so I sat down this morning and made up a bunch more papers and have been making HSTs and watching the snow fall.

I am not feeling any pressure this morning to do anything. The bed has been changed, laundry is started and I'm staying in the house.

Ready For the Next Step

Wow, Right now I am feeling like I may have taken on one project too many! I just finished my bear paw blocks for Judy's Quilt Along.

For the life of me, I cannot remember when the due date for these are. But I'm thinking it is Monday so I worked hard and got them done instead of trying to look up the post that has the dates. (I tend to get sidetracked when I'm on line.)

Now I am going to go take a nap for a few hours.....