Goodbye 2020!

I didn’t post at all in 2020, in fact it’s been so long since I posted I wonder if I really want to at all. I feel the need to record the year in someway somewhere. It was the year of the pandemic...historical to say the least. The news grew old fast even in the spring with new cases and new deaths being reported every day...and we are still getting that on the last day of the year...incredibly sad the number of lives lost. We have record highs for deaths the last two days of the year...not good news!  Hope is on the horizon with the vaccine beginning to be distributed. 

The year didn’t start out bad...in January I went to California to Road2ca Quilt show with a few friends. Lots more fun with friends than previous years when I have gone alone. Took a few classes, one from Jen Kingwell and went on a bus tour that included a stop at Eleanor Burns studio and store.  Eleanor was a hoot and going strong.  Very glad to have had the opportunity to meet both of those quilters among many others.  The big event at the show was spontaneously buying a new longarm HOURS before it was time to go home!  I did include a visit to dad in Desert Hot Springs prior to the show.  

While we were in CA the first case of corona virus was reported in the US...seemed to barely make the news and was very much downplayed. Maybe that was us tho...we saw little news as we spent full days at the show 😊.

In February my Longarm was delivered and set up! There wasn’t much time to get comfortable with it as I spent many days visiting assisted living and adult family homes.  Phylis had decided that dad was too much to care for by herself.  We found a very nice assisted living facility where we thought he would have a good quality of life and set things in motion.  Feb 29th Washington became ground zero for the corona virus with an outbreak at a nursing home.  Stil, it wasn’t much of a big thing, just interesting but not affecting everyone.

The beginning of March I drove to CA with a plan to help with dad, get what we needed for assisted living set up and move him up to Washington about the middle of the month...right when the shutdown went into effect. Then things got interesting....

We had to make a plan B since the pandemic started in a longterm care facility in Washington it didn’t seem wise to move him to a large community when he was essentially in quarantine at home. He seemed to be status quo but more care than his Phylis was up to providing. Nonetheless, she agreed that it was better to postpone the move and keep him with her and use the help of a friend.  It was not ideal but seemed to be the best choice at the time. Little did we know how long we would be in this pandemic! I left California on the first of April and they left about a week later to return to eastern Washington.

Dad and I got into a routine of playing cribbage 2 to 3 times a day while I was visiting.  After lunch I'd get him to go out to the sunroom to play.  He still was sharp and winning most of the games.  Only a few times did I beat him.  He always knew the score and often helped my score along.

I tried to get him out of the house but once everything shut down that was difficult.  We took a ride to Joshua Tree National Park one day and out a couple of times for milkshakes at McDonalds.

It was a interesting drive from Palm Springs to Seattle during the lockdown. Nothing much was open for food along the way...a few drive-thru fast food places only. Gas stations had their restrooms closed. Rest areas were open and staffed and clean thankfully. I had packed food and drinks so it didn’t become a problem.   The motel I had booked for the night refused me when I got there as I was “not essential”.  I was traveling with Tula so not just any hotel would work and we ended up at a Motel 6. Traveling with Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer and keeping my distance from anyone...masks hadn’t become mandatory yet. 

Soon as I got home we made masks.  I made them with my sisters for most all the family, then made more for some special friends and more for family and myself.  Made about 150 masks and didn’t see a dent in my fabric but elastic was scarce.  Tried some alternatives like shoe ties, t-shirt strips and dollar store elastic headbands.  Masks became mandatory everywhere, many places closed, and many more people started working from home.  Restaurants initially were closed though many were able to switch to carry out. I started grocery shopping online and picking it up in the parking lot. 

May began the country upheaval with the horrendous George Floyd event.  More and more info coming to light of examples of blatant racism. Just unbelievable! May 29th began protests in Seattle for BLM that evolved into being hijacked by others with different antiestablishment agendas. Seattle was on national news for the "Free Zone" that was set up on after the police station was attacked and shutdown.  It’s a lot a heartache all around but I hope more awareness too.

Dad began having issues in June with swallowing and a growth on his cheek from the parotid gland.  He ended up being hospitalized in Davenport.  There was a brief letup of COVID restrictions as the curve seemed to be flattening and we had a weekend that we were able to visit with him.  It didn’t last and visiting was not allowed again.  

Dad was transferred to a long-term care facility in Spokane in July without contact being allowed.  He passed the day after arriving with allowance for visitation being granted less than 12 hours prior.  He did not have anyone with him due to the logistics, not only because of the distance but also constraints of the shutdown.  He didn’t deserve that, and I so regret that it happened that way.  And he didn’t have COVID, just a victim of the timing.

July was goodbye for my minivan, yet hopefully she did some good going to habitat for Humanity. I also took down the shed in the backyard and distributed its contents to the garage and giveaways.  Simplifying.

August was more of the same with some lessening of restrictions.  We had a partial family gathering in Chelan.  We spent most of together time outside on beach in our pod.  Also had 2 condos for 7 of us. It was a great refresher and time to get to know Zoe!

I also did some painting in the upstairs bedrooms, decluttering my closet, refreshing my vanity and getting new carpet installed.  I wish I could say I had completed the task, but as usual once I got the project to a usable state and there are no deadlines it has become a stalemate. On the top of my project list for the new year 😊

As we turned into fall COVID news didn’t get any better, predictions of it worsening with people moving inside seemed to come true even though we continued mask wearing and social distancing.  Definitely a fatigue of restrictions going on.  Every time I left the house the traffic and people out and about seemed like pre-pandemic levels.  I doubled down on staying home. 

At the end of September, I challenged myself to finish 14 Christmas quilts by mid-December.   I came close but lost steam when I realized we wouldn’t be having our annual gathering where I could give them away.  I did finish 11 and gift 10.  Still intend to finish a few that are in the works before I change course.   It gave me something to work on and I gained experience with my Longarm.  I started hosting zoom meetings of our quilt group which filled the gap for not being able to meet at the library.

The fall brought increased COVID cases and more shutdowns. We have continued unrest with protests and looting with no resolution on the horizon, tremendous homeless issues, unemployment and uncertainties. 

Thanksgiving was quiet with no large family gatherings.  I spent it with Beth and the boys and Zoe.  Trav and family had gotten COVID tested as did I. 

Christmas again with very limited family gathering.  I went to Marilyn’s for Christmas Eve.  Barb and Todd and Jace were also there.  We had a quiet Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning brunch.  The weather was windy and wet...no beach going for me.  

News Years I spent with Beth babysitting Zoe. Except for the fireworks in the neighborhood, we had a mellow evening and lots of fun with sweet little Zoe.

The contacts I’ve had have been calculated risks.  Very little public contact and only with masks and social gatherings with small numbers and with those who are practicing isolation.  No guarantees but our Western WA family contingent has not experienced any COVID infection, knock on wood 😊 We have family in other parts of the country who have not been so fortunate. My niece and family in Texas and my uncle in Virginia.  Since their cases are new, I’m praying that they are mild versions.

The year has had trials and tribulations for so many.  So much isolation, depression, anger and division. This is my accounting of how the year was for me so that I don’t forget. I thankfully did not feel the angst at having to stay home that many did.  I don’t have a particularly high need for being in groups, especially large ones and crowds.  Being home was fine, only somewhat inconvenient.  I learned to grocery shop online and do curbside pickup, other online shopping was pretty comfortable prior to the shutdown so I didn’t miss shopping.  I was able to get what I needed in limited outings being careful and making calculated risks. I learned how to zoom and now am holding weekly zoom get togethers with my quilting group.  I’ve made some progress on my home projects over the year.  The hardest part of the year has been the uncertainty.  I feel on hold with moving forward to getting a different house and moving to a sunnier climate. Since I’m ambivalent about that overall, the year really has given me a reprieve from making a decision 😊

The vaccines are here and there is hope on the horizon that we will get past this pandemic.  In any case it will be a year for the history pages and longer than we hope before we are out of the woods.

Addendum:  It’s now more than a year since I wrote this post…where does time go?  I’m just going to post it anyway.  2020 was a significant year.  

Is the garage for a car?

The garage, oh my!  I like most of America have a two car garage that doesn't house a car.  If there is a car in the garage, let alone two you just can't move around.  No way to get to tools etc.  I have had my car in the garage a few times, but then I start a DIY house project and it gets moved out and never gets back in.  Well today was the day to make space!  The weather forecast is for possible snow...

The Before pictures.  Quite a mess!  A lot of this was boxes from Christmas and online shopping that needed to be broken down and recycled.  I like to save boxes to make sure I don't need to return an item, but then it just  laziness...I'll do it later.  My miter saw was out and there were shelves and lots of stuff that I had cleaned out of the house waiting to go to the Goodwill.  I was able to find someone who wanted the wood bookshelves and got them picked up. Win-win!

Loaded my car with boxes (8) for the Goodwill, put away stuff (as best I could) and took care of all the boxes.  Also loaded the stryofoam into the car to take to the recycling center. Volla!  There was space for my car.  It's a tight fit tho.  I can get out of the car but I can't walk around it...tradeoffs.

Took the loot to Goodwill and on the way home took a detour to the State Park near my home to watch the Sunset and walk Tula.  Lovely day, tide was really low!  I don't ever remember being at this park at low tide before.  Surprised at how far it went out.  Weather has been unseasonable warm in the 50's and today was a sunny day, a very big plus!

Hand stitching project

This is a top that I purchased off of eBay many years ago. I recently rescued it from a bin in my garage. It has twelve blocks set with sashing.

I think the blocks were made using trichem paints on an embroidery design. All the blocks are the same. I’m not sure I knew that when I was bidding. I believe I thought it was embroidered. That’s eBay.

It was all pin basted and two blocks were quilted. Initially I thought I would use it for practice on my HQ16. Well that never happened and I learned how to use the HQ16 in other ways. (Well, I’m still learning...seem to avoid that thing...story for another day)

So, in August I was starting my process of downsizing and I put it out at my garage sale along with the other 4 quilt tops I had “won” on eBay. No takers. 3 of the tops went to Goodwill, this one and another stayed behind for awhile longer.

I’m hand quilting this one. First time ever hand quilting. The original maker was using quilting thread in red and large stitches marked on the embroidery design. It just wasn’t doing anything for the quilt, in my opinion. So I’m using Aurifil 12 wt embroidery thread that I have used for redwork. Not quite a quilting stitch but not quite a big stitch either from what I can tell, but I’m happy with it. Not sure what I will do for the sashings.

I’m sure I’m breaking every rule for hand quilting. Just sort of making it up as I go. Tried using a
hoop but it didn’t work for me. It’s pin basted but I think it’s alittle sparse, I move a few extra pins to each block as I go.

Twelve blocks for the quilt. I’ve completed 5, starting #6.  I’m attempting to do at least 20 mins a day, it’s going to take a while.  I do see improvement in my work. It’s definitely not perfect but I am enjoying the process. I see myself finishing it...eventually.

The cats seem to like it. In fact Harley will come straight in from the wet and icky outside to hop in my lap when I’m working on it, dirty feet and all. I’m sure that is only because it is white...with a few paw prints. Hope it washes well!

Begin again?

Wow it’s been along time since I posted!  Actually I really kind of forgot I had a blog. I guess they don’t go away with inactivity. That’s good in a way, it’s been interesting to review the past. And sad too because even with my good intentions I’m pretty much in the same place with my house and quilting. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been changes...

Let’s see...the last post was the start of the Grand Allusion mystery. I didn’t keep up with it as intended, but that was a blessing of sorts. I really didn’t like the outcome on that quilt so I was able to adapt mine to a smaller version with some changes. It’s still a UFO...what a surprise...but it’s in the TBQ que.

The clutter around my house in general has lessened a bit. I participated in the challenge of 2017 and 2018 to rid myself of 2017 and 2018 items respectively. I was able to accomplish that and beyond and I can tell that there is some more space but there is still way too much stuff!  Especially when it comes to my quilting. My space is so crowded I do not like being in it and therefore have done very little sewing at home over the past several years. The sewing I do is limited to my quilt group meetings twice a month or so and quilt retreats, about 3 per year. Fairly stagnant I would say. I have slowed the acquisition pace, thank goodness!

Am I going to resume blogging?  I think I’ll give it a try. Having just retired a few months ago this is going to be a year of transitions. It will be a journal of the progress and I hope motivation to be mindful through the changes.

Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt progress

I'm going slow but steady.  I've been off work for the holiday but have had to work on some other things around home. I am glad to say that I have spent a little time each day on the GIMQ.

I've started on the HST and they are turning out well after a slight adjustment to my seam allowance. All the cutting is done.

Not sure if I'll get anymore sewing done until my day off...but if I don't I'll be pressed to get clue 1 done before clue 2 comes out on Friday.  I really want to keep up with this mystery and not fall behind like I have in the past!  Maybe I'll surprise myself and sew after work the next couple of days...one can always hope:-)   

Grand Illusion mystery is underway!

 I was counting on the excitement of the mystery to give me some momentum getting my sewing area put back together. So the first step of this mystery was to get my work surfaces cleared. That pretty much took up Friday, but I ended the day with my fabrics out and ready to play!

Those are my colors. Looking at the picture they look pretty close to Bonnie's choices, but they really aren't. I'm using green, yellow, orangy red, teal, plum and neutrals. 

I wasn't sure how I wanted to substitute my colors. The straightforward way would have been to use the orange for the pink and the plum for the black and leave the rest the same.  However, I didn't go that route. I decided to use the green in place of the turquoise attempting to match the value of the color rather than the actual color.  Next I used the yardage Bonnie gave to decide on the prominence of the color. So, we'll just have to wait and see....it is a mystery after all and I'm going for it!

There's Harley...he doesn't seem to get the concept that if I clean off the ironing surface I didn't do it for him!

And not to forget about Molly, who thinks if I get up from my work chair she's supposed to keep it warm!



Today I started the cutting. Boy oh boy!  Cutting so many different fabrics is time consuming!  I hate wasting fabric with each cut to straighten the edge... now since I've been introduced to string piecing I always cut an inch or more off when I straighten the edges.  Lots of goodies for the string bins!

The other thing I've learned about cutting that gives me a more accurate cut is to use the straightened edge as the guide for multiple cuts. 

When cutting 2.5 inch strips (in this case I'm cutting 2 strips) start with making the first cut 5 inches, then using the same straightened edge make a 2.5 inch cut. This will maintain the straight edge to measure from and means you don't have to restraighten the edge after every 3 or 4 cuts.

The other time saver I use for cutting from 2.5 inch strips is the 45° half square triangle ruler from  creative grids.  After pairing my strips right sides together and stacking 2 pairs, it makes pretty quick work of cutting the half square triangles. Much easier for me than flipping that easy angle ruler back and forth.  Don't get me wrong, the easy angle ruler works great, but when I have 2.5 inch strips to work with I like the creative grids ruler. I was able to get 12 pairs from a half width of fabric strip. I like to cut my strips in half to match up with fat quarter strips and to make add variety to the pairs. 

There's my 288 half square triangle pairs. Took about 50 mins to cut these. Haven't started sewing or cut the squares but I think there is hope I might start tomorrow before it gets dark out!

It's mystery time again!

I feel like a kid on Christmas. It's 12:18am and I've checked Bonnie's blog for the third time tonight to see if she may have posted the first clue early.  No not yet.

I didn't do the mystery last year and the two previous mysteries are UFO's. Just the same, I'm excited about doing this mystery.  My motivation and enthusiasm seems to be making a comeback. I'm going to take all the advantage of that that I can!

Guess I'll go tuck myself in bed to have dreams of flying geese, easy angles and lots of scraps.

Quick and Simple Baby Quilt

 

 

I've finished something, hooray! This is a very easy quilt to make. (Thank goodness!)  There hasn't been much finishing of anything around here for quite sometime.  Maybe I'm turning a new leaf?  This pattern is called Warm Wishes and it is a free quilt pattern found here http://www.quiltmaker.com/patterns/details.html?idx=5215   It took me 3 Saturdays at the library to make it, one for cutting it out (45 min?), one for sewing (6 hours) and one for layering and quilting (6hours).  I spent another 4 hours putting the binding on, I did that at home while watching TV.  Times are just estimates but pretty close I think.

I quilted this on my Juki using the walking foot.  I have this wavy ruler for my mid-arm that I used to mark the lines for quilting.  I like how it is simple grid quilting but gives a little movement to the squareness of the blocks. I made this quilt for a co-worker who is home on maternity leave.  I didn't get it done in time for her shower but it's ready now for when she returns to work, should be pretty soon now! 

Carolina Christmas Mystery

I've joined the bandwagon and am doing Bonnie's mystery. My colors very much like hers.
.

I'm going to try and keep up or not look ahead anyway. She's already posted the second step and I'm only half way thru the first...so far I haven't peeked...that doesn't mean I don't want to! Instead I'm going to use the excitement I feel...it's kind of like that feeling you got as a kid before Christmas...and use it as motivation to sew.

This is the nifty ruler I got from Fabric Depot in Portland during Quilt Expo there. It's making quick work of cutting the triangles! Although I love the EZangle method of making half square triangles, I don't like all the flipping of the ruler during the cutting. Voila! This ruler is one step! The drawback is that it is only designed for 2.5 inch strips. I think I'll find enough uses for it just the same to make it worth it to me.

Now I'm going to get off the computer and go get busy. Have to do a bit of housework and then I'm going to SEW! I plan on finishing step one today so I can look at step two.

I'M A WINNER!

I can't believe it! I was notified by Quiltmaker that I was one of the winners of the big bundle. Wow! I can't wait to see it! I never win anything...so maybe my luck is changing and I should go buy a lottery ticket!

Guess I've been on line too much...but who cares? WHOO HOO! Besides it's been fun following all the designers and blogs.

"Clutter kills our mojo, in every room, not just the sewing room!"

That's a quote from Stacey on Stashbusters that I read this morning. Is that ever true or what?!!

It seems like I've been in that space for quite some time now. Especially since I disrupted my quilting room to move the quilting machine and frame upstairs and redo the family room. It has disrupted the whole house and I can't seem to get anywhere.

First the bedroom upstairs that was emptied...well the closet is still full and needs to be edited so it can hold quilting related items and batting. Of course, all the rest of the stuff from the bedroom that I kept has been squished into other spaces... along with the stuff I'm waiting to move into the new quilt room.

Unbeknownst to me, my dear kitty, Heidi, was trying to tell me she had cystitis and was peeing all over this bedroom. I just wasn't paying attention...

I got one of those black lights to see where the pee was, and it seemed to be everywhere! I've treated it several times now and the black light still says it isn't clean! So I ordered another product online...anti icky poo...going to use a garden sprayer and spray it on and cross my fingers, turn around three times with my eyes closed and whisper the magic word....what is the magic word???

In the meantime the clutter around my house is killing me! I haven't known where to start....so started trying to get the carpet cleaned....but it's just been stalled. I've changed my tactic and decided to get on with working on the sewing room downstairs. I'm working on moving everything out so I can take up the carpet, put down laminate floors and paint. I'm running into problems of where to put the stuff! It's overwhelming how much there is!

There is very little sewing going on here right now. I had big ideas of some things I wanted to make for Christmas gifts but reevaluated and decided that I wanted to spend all the energies I could muster on getting this house put back together. The pressure of trying to do both I know would just immobilize me.

Goal was to put down the laminate floor over Thanksgiving weekend. That means I have to have the room emptied and painted first. I'm getting there, but not close enough that I think that is going to happen.

Today I hired and electrician that will come on Thursday and add 2 new circuits downstairs and 1 upstairs and move a switch and a light fixture. Then I will be able to run a space heater while using the iron and not blow a circuit downstairs. That will be a good thing!

I feel like I'm not getting anything done tho...so much stuff to deal with and decisions to make that I just...well, just don't. Spend alot of time on line, watching TV, shopping, sleeping....all avoidance. So Stacey you really have called me out on this one. And I pledge to keep sludging thru it with my vision of an organized home that will make it easy for me to be creative again. I'm shooting for the first of the year for having these two rooms put back into functional spaces.

Sue's going away quilt

Retreat weekend is long past and although I didn't get done what I wanted that weekend the quilt has been finished and gifted. Whew! It was a hard one...I had quilters block and just could not decide how to quilt it! Here's the quilt and it's recipient...

This quilt was a group quilt project for Sue as a going away present from our quilting group. She has retired from work and is moving to Idaho. We will sure miss her! I gave each person a piece of fabric to use to make a 12.5 inch block. Five of us and VERY different results! I am amazed how it all came together in the end. That is the lesson here ... you can make very different blocks work together by using a consistent alternate block.

Madaline sewed the alternate blocks and Debbie made the borders and then I quilted and finished it.

I did some new things on this quilt...(quilting is like cooking for me, it's always a new receipe.) I changed colors of thread which I've never done in a quilt before. I started with quilting loops in the red chains with red varigated thread, then I changed to a neutral varigated and quilted the light areas with straight lines using a ruler, another first, and stitched in the ditch around the blocks, another first. Then I changed to a varigated green and quilted the green areas with straight lines like the light areas and a freehand design over all of the quilt blocks based on thier design. For example on the applique block by Sue 2 I outlined around the applique and quilted waves and hearts in the frame. I did alot of rolling the quilt back and forth and was worried that it would get distorted but it seemend to do oka, even tho at times it seemed like there was excess fabric on the top.

This is a picture of our little quilting group that meets at the library and the makers of this quilt.

From left to right: Madaline, Ruth, Sue 2, Sue 1, Debbi 1(me) and Debbie 2. We are dwindling in numbers and always open to new participants!

Finished and Delivered

This is one and maybe the only finish I have had in my absence. It was a quilt for my boss's retirement. It's signed by the staff of the PACU. She was very touched and cried. I wasn't able to attend the party when it was presented to her, but I keep hearing raves...so I'm happy.

I tried some new things on this quilt and I'm still working on my freemotion quilting so I am critical of it. I'm always over critical of what I do. Also I was running short of time and didn't hand stitch the binding...I fused it and machine stitched it in the ditch from the front. Also fused the hanging sleeve rather than handstitch it. Those shortcuts make me feel like I cheated and I hope they will be ok in the long run as I have not done that before. But I had this roll of steam a seam 2 and rather than stay up all night and hope I finished the hand sewing, I fused!

It really is pretty nice afterall, so I'm going to try and remember that rather than where the oops are. And I feel better now after confessing (those Catholic roots go deep! lol)

This is a picture that a co-worker drew of the hospital entrance. I traced it onto fabric then highlighted it with outline stitching and colored it with crayons. I did the same with the lettering. I made the font on my computer and traced it then outlined stitched and colored. I am happy with the picture and I think it really makes the quilt. I had some little oops in the quilting of the center...got myself cornered, but....

I quilted it with an overall leaf and swirl design with varigated Rainbow thread. It went pretty quick and isn't a big feature. Wish I had taken a picture of the backing fabric. It was a big hit. It was a large scale print with Japanese ladies on it. Our boss is Japanese...of course.

Catching Up

Whew! It's been along time since I posted! I'm not sure why I got out of it...I think it was that I was reading so many other blogs and online groups that when I was done I was out of time or exhausted and just couldn't blog. I've been working on curbing my computer time so I'm going to try the blog thing again. I like it as a way of keeping track of my quilting.

I'm joining the Halloween quilt retreat hosted by Susan and will attempt to post my progress here.

The other issue is that I haven't really been sewing much. I've been working on rearranging my quilting spaces. I started it during the summer and would have thought I would have it all done by now, but I've run into some issues that have slowed me down. First one was that my helper, my nephew Travis, broke his arm pitching. Now he's off to college. Hard to move stuff myself...The second issue is that I discovered that the cat was peeing in the room I was moving my quilting frame to...guess she was trying to tell me that she had cystitus again...So the move into that space is stalled. I've gotten the smell out, but when I use the black light I still see lots of areas that glow. I'm going to treat it again today, this time I'm going to use a carpet shampooer with pet shampoo and X/O added. I've used Nature's Miracle on it 2 or 3 times now without success...any ideas?

This is what my sewing room looks like this morning. This is the view to the right entering the room.

And this is the view looking to the left.

It's rather overwhelming to me when I walk in there. Alot of stuff has already been relocated to the garage. I'm going to try and get the rest of the stuff packed up today after I get back from my doctor appointment and errands. Most of the cabinets are emptied and I will have to figure how to get them moved so I can paint the walls. I figure I can at least move them into the center of the room when I get the stuff out. I'm aiming for putting down the new floor over the Thanksgiving weekend when Travis is home from college to help me. We'll see....

Finnally picking myself up from the bottom of the moutain

Boy did I fall big! It started on my vacation to St. Louis...of course I had to visit some of the quilt shops in the area....and that of course lead to fabric buying. Ok, not so bad, it was vacation and all, but the buying didn't stop when I got home...had to find some more of a fabric I bought while away so that meant online shoping....found some bargains so....

So I was feeling that I had done enough fabric shopping...then came retreat in October. I was certain that I wouldn't be tempted, but when there is a fabric store sitting half way across the room from me my willpower breaks down, and I went to town slowly over the weekend....don't ask me why, I really don't know...

I would have thought I had enough, but I wanted MORE! Went to a discount fabric place on the way home and stocked up on some more fabric for ideas I got at retreat. And later in the week to the local quilt shop and more online orders for panels and other ideas!

I'm not sure what got hold of me...I just kept going, back to my old ways, if I wanted it I bought it. That's why I'm in the mess I'm in. Well, 210 yards later....I comitted to the stashbusters group no buy starting Nov. 1. I'm on my climb back up the mountain!.....no fabric purchases or books since Nov. 1! I can do it!

The worst part is that I haven't completed anything that can count for using stash. I've been working on projects and have a top or two ready for quilting, but not done. So I've also joined the UFO Challenge for 2008.

I've been quilting fairly regularly with my quilting group that meets twice a month but not too much in between so looks like I will fall short of my goal of working and hour a day on quilting. I need to catch on my calculations, but I'm certain I'll be short of 365 hours. Think I'll keep that as a goal for next year and see if I can do better.

Confession over! I'm taking control back! Guess I'd better let the kids in....

Old Tobacco Roads

I love Bonnie's quilts and have had fun doing the past mysteries from my scraps and stash. I wasn't thinking that I would do OTR right now because I thought I should finish some projects rather than starting something new...well didn't last too long. Found the extra 2 patches from the OC and started putting them together. Now I have 113 4 patches done for the OTR...guess I'm doing it! Since I sneaked and looked at the solution I will work on this as time permits and maybe as a leader-ender project.

OC - top finished!

This past weekend I finished putting the borders on my OC. I used a straight setting instead of the diagonal set of the pattern. I'm very happy with it...wasn't sure about it as I was making it but it came to life when the blocks were put together. Now just to find something for the backing and get it quilted.

I also sewed the binding on a fall table runner that I finished quilting. The table runner was one of those things I found in my "needs to be quilted" bin while looking for the quilt tops I had made for Beth and Jim. I started quilting this on my DSM with stitch in the ditch and then I decided I wanted some free motion on it and pinned it to the quilting frame and used the HQ16. I tried to quilt a flower resembling a sunflower in the setting triangles. Fairly successful, but I'm no artist. Guess that's why I find using the HQ so intimidating. But now it's done! A finish! And that's great!

August progress

I only finished one project in August, the baby quilt for Desiree. It was PIG so it was mostly from stash but I purchased a backing for it. So far so good...except on Labor Day Weekend I ventured into JoAnn's to get some notions. I was thinking about OTR the new mystery Bonnie Hunter has posted. I love her quilts and the previous mystery quilts have been great. I got this notion that I needed some rust colored fabric tho if I wanted to do it. I didn't think the fabric was on sale, just the fat quarters, but I was wrong...fabric was $1.00 off per yard. That makes it better than their other sales, so I couldn't help myself...here's what followed me home! It could have been worse, I did put some back :)

Looks like OTR to me! I really should have shopped my stash first, but I know I don't really have alot in rusts and browns and the golds always seem to get used.

For the month of August I sewed 30.5 hours (just .5 hours short of my goal, but didn't make up for previous months losses), purchased 8.25 yards of fabric, and used 5 yds. I updated the sidebars to reflect the above.

3-D Pinwheels and Prairie Points

The baby quilt is finished and gifted! I think it turned out pretty cute! It was the first time I have ever tried prairie points so I learned something new. I also had never made anything that was 3-D so quilting it became a bit of a dilema. I ended up quilting in on my DSM in wavy crosshatching. I think it gives it movement like wind blowing.


Here's a close up of the quilting. I used Warm and Bright polyester batting in this quilt. It has a nice bit of puffiness, but not too much.

This is the sweet Desiree whom I worked with. She was a traveling nurse and spent a 6 month assignment with our unit. She was lots of fun to work with. It was exciting when she found out she was pregnant and she was so cute about it. Getting pregnant was a big surprise...ie. not planned. One night she just wasn't feeling right and was having some abdominal pains and was light headed. A trip to the clinic solved the mystery... It was fun teasing her about the grape, plum, tennis ball that is growing inside her! (she was devoring everything she could on the subject and the text book she was using refered to the size of the fetus in those terms) She's gone back to the East coast to be near her family now, and who can blame her? This was taken on my last day working with her last Tuesday. She'll be missed. Isn't she cute with that little tummy starting to pop out? Happy baby times Desiree!

She said the quilt will probably be the only handmade thing her baby will have as nobody does any crafting in her family. I'm glad I made if for her. It was fun...and I had it in my PIGS anyway. I only had to purchase the backing. The top was mostly cut out and someone else's UFO I purchased at retreat one year. It was a puzzle to figure what the original owner designer inteded to do with it. There was a pattern with the fabric but the fabric that was cut out was not as directed per the pattern. I think she was going to do something with alternating plain blocks but I cut them up to use as the background for the pinwheels and found some white I had and used if for sashing. I would never have picked out these fabrics...I do like it tho.

About prairie points....I've never done them before and I learned a few things in doing them that I will pass along. I searched the web and followed the directions I found at http://www.mccallsquilting.com/artheblk/prapoints/ and at http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpatternsprojects/ss/prairie_points.htm

Well I sorta followed the directions...I didn't read carefully the part about stop quilting an inch or so away from the edge of the quilt. So I spent a really long time, I mean a really, really long time unsewing the quilting and tieing it off and burring the threads in the batting. It was made doubly difficult by the fact that I had squared up the quilt top and cut all the thread ends off. So I was left with these little tail ends to knot and bury. To top it off, the thread I used for quilting, Superior Rainbows, kept untwisting and I had a heck of a time threading a needle with it! I struggled with it for about 3/4 of the quilt then I was working on it at our library quilting session and Madalyn gave me this GREAT tip (thanks Madalyn!)...use a needle threader. First I tried using the needle threader to thread the needle but that didn't work. What did work was threading the needle threader thru the batting and up thru the top of the quilt and grabbing the thread ends and presto! pulling them thru. Worked like a dream...would have cut the time I spent on that task by a jillion times! Next time....

Anyways, learn from my mistakes...Only quilt to within one inch of the edge of the quilt. Then you fold the backing back and pin it out of the way

Then turn the quilt over and sew the prairie points with a quarter inch seam along the edge of the quilt. Adjust the length by moving the points in and out of each other. Using the fudge factor there is quite a bit of leway. I don't think my points are perfectly spaced but it's not noticible to the naked eye and I'm sure the baby isn't going to get out the measuring tape and figure it out. These prairie points were made from 4 1/2 inch squares. The were folded on the diagonal and pressed and folded again on the diagonal and then pressed again. One side then has a folded edge and the other side opens so you can slip one inside of the other.

And here it is all finished!