Good Morning Girls

Design Wall Monday

Yesterday afternoon, Easy Street went up on the temporary too small design wall.  I really need to get a real design wall put up in my sewing room instead of in the hallway!

I pinned the center row together then risked life and limb carrying it to the sewing room.  It wasn't that bad, I only stabbed myself twice. So the center row is now sewn.  In no time at all, this top will be called finished.

See other great design walls at Patchwork Times.

Sunday Sewing

Today I sewed blocks!

I had fun.

I'm up to date with the Grandmother's Choice Sampler blocks.  

This makes me happy.

Now I am going to start putting Easy Street together.

Working my way through my Getting It Done Challenge list,

one project at at time.

Playing With Purple

It's Rainbow Scrap Challenge Saturday. I missed last week and feel like I have to put in a make up day like the kids do for missing school because of snow.

I loved picking fabrics for the Dresden Plate block. I participated in a purple strip swap and when the strips came I sorted them into shades of purple. These strips just didn't fit in any category I had going so they became their own group. I think they are perfect for this block.  Still not too sure about the center but it's sewn on and it's probably going to stay there. For the 15" blocks, I cut 5" from each  2 1/2" strip, then cut the plate sides.

I need to dig deeper for more star blocks. I love the 4 patches.  It's fun to dig through the bin but my purple needs to be replenished.  I'll go to the chunks of purples for my next blocks.

See other great Scrappy Happy projects at SoScrappy.

Friday Fun

My sewing mojo has come home.  This morning I have been hard (not really) at work catching up on my monthly projects. I made a few purple blocks for tomorrow's post and then got out the Back to Square One Mystery box to do the steps for February.

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezie!  Make these, add these parts to this part and make this.  Ready for March!  I am already in love with this quilt!

Last night Ernie brought home a load of gravel. Our driveway is in sad shape and I want a gravel path to the chicken house.  Today the kiddos showed up and without even a Hi Gramma, they were on the rock pile being mountain goats.  How fun!  This weekend the pile will disappear.  There will be 3 sad mountain goats.

On The Needles

I cheated on the vest this week with the 3S Shawl.

I didn't get the left side complete but I made some darn good progress.

This is so close to being ready to put together that I plan to dedicate

my knitting time only to this until it's finished.

As much as I love the shawl and want to work on it,

I have to remain faithful to the vest.

If I don't, it will end up hid away in the knitting bag. 

I don't want that.

Show Us Your Socks

These socks are hiding some tired feet!

Today was grocery shopping. 

Ugh!

But my feet were toasty as I wandered all over that concrete jungle.

Showing off our socks is almost over.

Judy L will end this at the end of the month. 

Hurry and show off yours.

Look here for some awesome socks.

Design Wall Monday

I spent a bit more time working on my hexi wall hanging. 

That's it.

My poor lonely sewing room.

Maybe later today I'll sew a bit.

In the meantime, I'm going to go blog hopping.

There are so many fabulous projects already posted

on Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Slow Stitching On Sunday

I have not touched my hexi wall hanging for months! Poor thing got put on the shelf and ignored.  Until last week when I needed something to work on at Wednesday group. I pulled it out and I'm happy to be working on it again.

This week I got sick and you know that time during recuperation when you think you are feeling great only for your body to tell you otherwise???  Yeah, thought so.  Instead of vacuuming or doing dinner and dishes or even sitting at the sewing machine, I knitted and stitched, whined and slept.  But I'm on the mend and can get back to the normal stuff in a couple more days.

With 2 more rows ready to stitch, I feel like I've made some progress. This morning I had to lay my yoyos on and test layout the small hexi patties to see if they were going make a good flower.  I am excited to be working on this again.  I just need to focus on getting the main part done before I go embellishment crazy.

Stop by Kathy's Quilts and see other FABULOUS stitching projects.

On The Needles

After my disappointing knitting fiascoes one and two this week, I am making very little progress on the vest front. Life interrupts our normal sometimes and mine was interrupted!!  But all is well now and slowly coming back to normal.

I'm planning hoping for more knitting time today and this weekend and if luck is on my side, I can show off both fronts next week.

What's on your needles??  See other great projects at Patchwork Times.

3rd Time's A Charm

Yesterday was the great pull out the knitting and try again day. Wow, that kind of sounds like it was a special day.  It wasn't.  Not only did I pull out the knitting the first time, I did it again last night.  Whoopsie number 2. The right front half of the V was so messed up.  I didn't know if I was coming or going as in decrease on not!

I got all the way to 2 stitches left to decrease and decided it was just not right so I told Ernie to watch this as I pulled the needle out yet again.  No fear this time, I just pulled it out of there like I do it all the time.  OH BOY!  I pulled it all the way back to the beginning of the V and started again-3rd time's a charm?!?  I made pretty good progress and now I think I know what I'm supposed to be doing.  Notice I said I think I know.....

Blurry photo alert...

Today is Grandson Elliot's 7th birthday.  Hard to believe but true.  Last week we went to the Northwest Ag Show. The kids love it there mostly because they can climb on the tractors and pretend.  Elliot loved this Kubota loader/bobcat thing and wanted to take it home with him.  Look at that happy, happy face.  I love you big boy! I hope your day is super special.

Darn, Darn, Darn!

Friday and Saturday nights, I knitted and knitted and knitted on the vest.  This morning I decided I was going to sit down and finish the right side.  I get it to the length I need and look at the directions to make sure.  That's when I really read the directions.  I needed to have 36 stitches on my needle and I had lots more than that.  I skipped over a whole section of decreases.  Whoopsie.

I marked where I needed to start the second decrease pattern.  10" need to be pulled out. So I took a really deep breath, blew it out slowly and pulled the needle. Then I pulled yarn and pulled yarn and pulled yarn.

A few months ago I would have been afraid to even try to pick up my stitches and would have pulled all the yarn and started over.  But not today.  I carefully pulled out the last row and picked the stitches back onto the needle.  Now I will knit and knit and decrease to my 36 stitches just like the directions tell me.   I see a little TV between laundry loads.

I told myself, no big deal, I was just practicing the pattern.  There's no crying in baseball or knitting.

Design Wall Monday

My design wall is empty. My sewing machine is empty. I spent most of my sewing time quilting. Yesterday I finished. The binding was made and attached and now my precious memory quilt is waiting to have the final stitches put in it. The fabric for the label is ready, I just have to get my words right.  Easier said than done.

Thank you for all the kind words last week.  I know finishing this quilt is a major healing step for me. Quilts are therapy, they bring out the good memories along with the sad memories.  This quilt makes me smile now.

Now I will focus on my Getting It Done Projects for February. It's nice to have a plan.

See what others are working on this week by visiting Judy L at Patchwork Times.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge-Purple

February is Purple month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at SoScrappy.  I decided to do the Turnstile block for my Row Quilt.  Each 6" block will use different fabrics.

I cut pieces for my scrappy stars but with little sewing time today, only one Turnstile block got sewn.  I'll spend some time kitting up a few of each block to use as leader/enders.  That sure makes the blocks go together fast.  I'll kit up the Dresden Plates block so it will be ready when I am ready.

See other great Scrappy Happy projects here at SoScrappy.

On The Needles

This morning I woke up wondering--how did it get to be Friday again so fast?  And where is January?  Is it just me or is time zooming by?

I continue to work on Ernie's vest.  This is the right front.  It is 8 1/2" wide, I have about 10" more to finish the front.  This is a size XXL.  It stretches a lot! It just looks so funny.  I'm trying really hard to work on it every day.  But it's getting harder...

... the vest isn't pretty.  So I wound 2 skeins of Imagination Hand Painted Sock Yarn into cute little cakes.

This is pretty yarn. The color is Wild West.  I know I shouldn't have but I did, I started the 3S Shawl for DD3's birthday gift.  Thanks Denise for showing me the perfect pattern for my Denise/DeeDee.

I didn't have a car project since finishing my scarf so I pulled out the afghan bag and kitted myself up more granny squares like I did here.  I've had really good passenger seat time this week so I made great progress on these 15 squares. I have been working on this project off and on--mostly off--for over a year so it's time to get it done!

What's on your needles?  See great projects here at Patchwork Times.

Show Us Your Socks

I love these socks. 

Every time I wear them and look down at my feet, I smile. 

They are bright and happy.

One day there will be no dog hair on my floors.

But not today.

Show us your socks here at Patchwork Times.

Remember they don't have to be hand knit,

they just have to be socks on feet.

February Getting It Done List with January's How I Did List

February's Getting It Done List

1. Continue to try keeping up with Block of the Month and/or Week, Midget Blocks, Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Judy L's Mystery.
2. Turn Easy Street Blocks into an Easy Street flimsy.
3. Quilt Twisted Mystery that didn't get quilted in January
4. Quilt Ultimate Scrap Quilt Like Julie's that didn't get quilted in January
5. Bonus project--work on Reach For The Stars Blocks

January's How I Did List

1. I did pretty good keeping up with my blocks of the month/week, rainbow scrap blocks, Judy L's mystery and Grandmother's Choice blocks.
2. I got the borders on Hawaiian Sunset 1845.
3. I picked a different quilt to work on instead of the Twisted Mystery.
4. I only cut the batting for Ultimate Scrap Quilt Like Julie's.

I'm pretty happy with what I accomplished on my list.  I spent more time knitting that I did sewing and that doesn't bother me at all. 

I love having the list.  When you are like me and find shiny things that are distracting , it's helpful to have the list front and center to rein me back in to what I want to accomplish.  

See how others did with their goals by visiting Patchwork Times. 

What I'm Reading

Judy L has started a new Tuesday link called Whatcha Reaing?.  I am reading this.

I love Debbie Macomber books.  Currently I am reading Montana.  I like her books because the people are real, the settings are real and the stories are good, wholesome, and believable.

I'm somewhat of a slow reader and usually only read in bed but if the book gets super good, I can be found cuddled up in the recliner for a few hours.

What are you reading???

Design Wall Monday

After Saturday's post, all the blocks on my design wall have been put away.  I decided I was going to unpin this quilt, my oldest UFO, and pin baste a wall hanging that I listed for the Getting It Done Challenge. I had intended to hand quilt this but the batting I used was too thick and my fingers would never let me work on this like I would want to.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it.

Instead of unpinning and folding it up yet again,  I sat down at the sewing machine and started quilting.  This quilt has a very special place in my heart.  I am still not ready to share the story but the quilt is my therapy and has tons of tears soaked in to it.  I think this time was the magical time and I am quilting and remembering and at times I can smile.

A friend wrote a blog post one time about working on a quilt that made her sad. I told her that I got my quilt out once in a while and worked on it. After a time, put it away again. Sometimes 5 minutes were too many.  But after a long time and many therapy sessions with the quilt, it will be finished soon.

It's Monday in Blogland so that means there will be some fabulous design walls shared at Patchwork Times.

Pink Block Roundup

I have been having so much fun playing with my pink scraps and strips.  I've finally decided on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  Besides my Row Quilt, I'm doing some scrappy stars and 4 patches.  I'm not real sure what I'm going to do with them but I'll figure out something.

I'm also doing 12 scrappy Dresden Plate blocks thanks to my dear friend Diane and her fabulous Dresden Plate quilt that I have been watching her create through her blog. I ordered a ruler from JoAnn's when I was doing a yarn order a while back and this week I played with it.  You can see I am ready to applique down my plate.  And then it was all reinforced this week with the Dare to Dresden blog hop.  Oh my, there are some fabulous projects there.

I'm so excited to find out which color I get to play with next.  See other great pink projects here at SoScrappy.