A Challenge!

Peg has issued this challenge and I'm up for it! Just may be the push I need to get some quilting done. I have so many unquilted tops...I'm afraid to count them. I just need to get over my procrastination of quilting them and just do it. I'm afraid I'll make a mess of them, but I do good enough that I don't just want to spend my time on muslin or cheater cloths, yet.... I just need to do it! I have to give myself some leeway to learn and know I will get better each time. If I could quilt 5 quilts before the end of July it would mean that I don't leave it forever...like 6 months...between quilting times and maybe it will get easier. Lets hope so anyway. My bargello bowl quilt is loaded and langushing on the quilter.

On the quilting front I haven't done much lately...thus no posts. I did get a big burdon off my back yesterday...I finished the dinnette seat cushions for my Dad's motorhome that I started quite some time ago. I think he was gone for two winters that I didn't finish them....but now they are done! Happy dance! No more guilt!

I've made some progress in the yard with Travis's help. All the 6 foot plus weeds are gone! I had so much yard waste put out the last 2 pickups I'm sure all my neighbors and the garbage men wonder where it's all coming from...I don't have a very big yard. We'll fill up again as I have to cut up some large tree branches that broke off in the last windstorm. It's finally starting to feel like spring at least....I know it's summer, but it's not quite there yet.

I have 2 weeks of work before I head out to Eastern WA for vacation at Lake Curlew. It should be warm there, and sunny. Can't wait! Won't have room to take my sewing machine and equipment like I did last time I rented the cabin. This time my sister is coming with me and we are bringing two large dogs with us so probably won't have the room I need...maybe...I had two dogs last time and a wagon to pull my infirmed Maggie with....I just may have to rethink that. I thought a hand project would be good tho, so think it's time to start the insanity project. I don't have a pattern for it, just this picture from the magazine, but I'll wing it.

Well, I'm going to go do some housework now so I can sew later! TTFN!

OC top done, no borders yet

It's coming together!

Here's my top...I decided to set it straight on like I saw that Julia did. I like how it looked, it will make a good throw size, I didn't have to make all the setting blocks for step 5 and the leftover split 4 patches will be used for the border. So all in all I think it will work out good. I have 12 leftover step 4 spinning star blocks that I think will make a nice wheelchair quilt top. The best news is that I see the end in sight and I really need to shift focus and work on Travis's baseball quilt. I want to be able to send it with him when he goes away to college next fall.

We had a good time sewing at the library today. Here are a few of the Humble Quilters and the projects they are working on or have completed.



This is Debbie, she is also working on the OC mystery. Here she is with a pile of step 4 blocks. Although she is using similar colors for the 4 main fabrics her quilt is going to look alot different from mine based on the scrappy fabrics we choose. I love to see how the same pattern turns out with different fabrics. Color is so interesting. I think she is going to set hers diagonal as she wants a larger sized quilt.








And here is Sue. This is a mystery quilt she just finished. It was a mystery from a group in Germany that she met up with when she went to visit her daughter . Turned out beautiful! I love how her border frames the quilt and brings all the colors together.






This is Madalyne
working on her version of the scrappy bargello.

She's got quite a project going as it is going to be bedspread size before she is finished.



The last quilter joining us today was Sue H. She is working on this fabulous scrappy quilt for her grandsons. The sashing comes together with an eight pointed star that is really cool. Wish I had gotten a picture of what she has done. She's making some good progress

I've updated my sidebars with data from May...I'm falling behind in my quota of hours quilting. My New Years Resolution was to average 1 hour per day. I'm going to have to put some more hours in if I want to meet this goal. Didn't help that I was away on vacation the first week of May...haven't decided if I'm going to eliminate the vacation weeks I travel or not yet. Guess it depends on how the numbers work out. I'm on track on purchases...have finally made it to no fabric bought for a month! I do need to get some finishes to balance out what I have bought so far for the year so that I will end up with a net negative. If I'd get busy and work on quilting some of my tops I could do it. I am really pleased tho with the incentive keeping track is offering me.

OC Step 4 - DONE!

I may be lagging behind, but I'm making progress! I must admit I have looked ahead and I love the end result so it's put a little fire in my behind to get this done. I love making scrappy quilts. I've used the kitchen sink rule for this quilt...just about anything goes, I've only limited the brights to some degree. There are christmas fabrics in here and there and it's fun to see them pop up, like little surprises.

I'm going back to the sewing machine...gonna work on step 5!

Is it really June?

Cancun was such a fun trip with my sister Barb! Here we are floating down this underground river.(I'm the one on the left) I was thinking about how nice it was there and how WARM!...here in Seattle it is not! This is June! I'm tired of the cold already! I had to turn my furnace back on this evening when I got home (again)...I've tried to turn it off 3 times so far this year.

It wasn't very nice yesterday, but Travis did come up and he and I worked in my yard. We got the front looking pretty decent, thanks alot to Travis. I put out a couple of rolls of flower seeds along the fence after weeding the bed. They are a few years old and it's kind of late to start seeds, (not by the weather tho) so I hope they grow. I hope he can come back next weekend and help me tackle the back yard. I guess I never introduced Travis...he is my college age nephew and my first line of hired help...he's a good worker when he can fit it in his schedule. He's got a couple more weeks of school and then will have more time for the summer. I can find work for him to do around my place for 6 to 12 hours a week. He'll find some other odd jobs and be able to have a pretty good summer job setting his own schedule.

The weekend was pretty productive overall. I got in about 5 hours of sewing at the library on Saturday. I got a good start on step 4 of Orange Crush, alittle more than half done. How did I ever think I would get step 4 and 5 done? I just don't really have a realistic idea of how long it takes me to make something or I'm just incredibly slow. Don't have pictures yet, my memory card was left in the laptop.