Can I get it all done?

School ended last Thursday. For some reason I thought I had several weeks before I went on my trip. Wrong! Now I have five days to get a whole lot of stuff done! I have Nina's birthday quilt all quilted- it just needs to be bound.

I also quickly pieced a baby quilt. The shower is June 23rd - just a week after I get back from our trip. They are doing their nursery in Auburn Tigers theme. Well....... All of the Auburn fabric is pretty obnoxious. I was able to find some blue and orange ginghams. Both are tiny little checks. It really helped to soften the Auburn fabric.

These are the fabrics for the other baby quilt I have to make this summer. I think this is way too many fabrics for the pattern I am going to use - but I would rather have too many choices than not enough.

Last night, DD wanted to have a friend sleep over so I stayed up late supervising the chaos. I got the queen size quilt pinned on the machine. This is the quilt I am quilting for the owners of the local sewing center. She already had it pin basted and had sewn a few basting lines. I dissected the whole thing yesterday morning. She was out of Warm & Natural batting at her store so she had bought a batting at Walmart. It was yucky. Do you like that excellent description? Yesterday I went in and got some W&N from her to use instead. I am hoping to get started quilting on it today. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Here's to a productive day!

Would Nina peek?

I got the top to Nina's birthday challenge quilt put together yesterday. Once I got the chance to sit down and sew for longer than five minutes at a time, the blocks went together pretty fast. I momentarily considered posting a progress picture - since I know Nina is on a mini-vacation by herself to Oregon. But I don't know if her friend in Oregon has a laptop they might be toting around with them. You will just have to wait a couple more weeks until I give it to her.

I am planning on going to Tennessee on June 5 and then leaving Ian there with my parents. Me and Maddie will go on up to Indiana on the 6th. We will come home on the following Tuesday. Me and Nines already have several places we have to eat - a Chinese buffet and the Cabbage Rose (for their yummy cashew chicken salad croissants!). And of course there will be lots of shopping thrown in for good measure. The same little town where the Cabbage Rose is located also has two quilt stores and lots of antique stores. Nina's DH suggested we go to this little town 6 years ago, when we were having a girls' day out. I was 9 months pregnant and we were trying to walk the baby out. He hung on for another two weeks! We have been going back to this town ever since.

I got the two graduation quilts down on Tuesday night. I gave them to the boys' grandma Wednesday night at bible class. She was so excited to have them done. And from what I hear - the boys both loved them.

I have one more quilt that I would love to get quilted before I go to Indiana - so I can have some more spending money! This one has already been pin basted and so I will have to dissect it before I can load it on the machine. She wants echo quilting done around the applique shapes in the quilt blocks. I am a little nervous about this!

I also need to measure a quilt that is sitting here waiting to be quilted. My friend Christie made it for her daughter's bed. It started off as a queen size quilt, but when they moved recently, they gave their daughter their old king size bed. So Christie enlarged the quilt by adding a border. Now I am worried that it will be too big for my quilt frame. I may have to haul it to Indiana with me and talking Nina into helping me get it done on her big 14 foot frame! I am just gonna do a big meander so it shouldn't take too long. Her quilting room is located out by her "Guest Suite" - so I could always sneak in there and do it at night!

I guess I should go do something useful! The house looks like a tornado hit. I'm not sure there were any survivors!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Quick update!

Tuesday -

There were no sub positions today so I have had another day to get the twins' quilts done. I finished quilting the first quilt yesterday morning and then got the second one loaded on the machine yesterday afternoon. I got it about half quilted last night and finished it up this morning. While waiting for some cupcakes to bake (for tonight's soccer party), I got the edges trimmed. The fabric she sent for the bindings turned out to be extra wide - made for a backing. Really cuts down on how many strips I had to cut and piece together! The binding for the first quilt is all pieced and ironed and draped over the quilting machine. I am avoiding it. My least favorite task is always putting on the binding. Just ask Nines - I usually try to avoid it like the plague.

The lady I quilted these two quilts for is coming to town tomorrow night and graduation is on Thursday night. I really want to get these done and give them to her tomorrow night at church.

So which one of my lovely blogging friends wants to come help me?

Where did everybody go?

Where has the past month gone?

Sorry - but this post will have to be picture-less - I can't find my camera at the the moment - let alone the cord to hook it up to my laptop!

This past month has been busy. I have hosted a double bridal shower, gone on a trip with DH to San Antonio, and been a sub lots of times at both kids' schools. Here in Auburn, it is the last week of school and everyone is a little bit hyper. Every night when I tuck Ian into bed, he gives me a count down on the days of school that are left. I'm just ready to be able to sleep in a little!

While in San Antonio, I took a cab to the closest quilt store. It is called Las Colchas - which is Spanish for The Quilts. It is located just north of downtown in a cute little cottage style house. I found some beautiful fabrics for one of the baby quilts I need to make this summer. The mama-to-be is doing the room in browns and blues. I will post a picture of the fabrics when I find my camera! The funniest part of the trip to the quilt store was the trip back to the hotel. The cab ride there cost $6. Trying to save myself another $6 (plus the fact that I would have had to phone the cab company to get a cab) - I decided I could take a public trolley back downtown. The store owner told me where I could catch the trolley (she was wrong!). I walked the 5 blocks to the BUS stop and waited there for 20 minutes - with no sign of a trolley or a bus. Finally, I gave up. I could see downtown from where I was. It started only a few blocks away - really! Being a girl that used to live in NYC, I decided I could hoof it. How far could it really be? It turned out to be several miles to our hotel. But I got a nice walking tour of San Antonio while I was roaming around. Plus all that extra exercise let me indulge in more chips and salsa at dinner!

This week I am feverishly trying to finish quilting two graduation quilts for a set of twins we go to church with. Their grandmother made the quilt tops and is hiring me to finish them for her. Craig's quilt is on the machine and is about one third quilted. Clint's quilt is waiting. Their grandmother is mathematically challenged. When I emailed her how to figure out how much the quilting would cost (cents per square inch) she emailed her daughter and said "It is either going to be twelve cents or nine thousand dollars!" Unfortunately, when I got the piles of stuff from her - the tops are both slightly bigger than the backings! UGH! I am also supposed to be binding them both for her. Graduation is on Thursday but I don't know if I will get them done by them. The boys have already seen the tops so it is no big deal.

I also have another quilt waiting to be quilted. I was in our local sewing center last week to buy fabric to make a baby quilt. The quilt owner's wife asked me if I would please take a quilt she had made for her daughter and quilt it. It has been sitting there for over a year, waiting for her husband to do it on a regular sewing machine. Now the daughter is getting married and wants the quilt done! So the quilt came home with me. At least I should have a lot of spending money when I go visit Nines in a few weeks. Yes, I am already planning on falling off the "No Buy" wagon!

Time to get busy! What have you been up to?

I really wanted too.....

I really wanted to quilt for a while today. I even got psyched up last night and bought the fabric I needed to work on Nina's birthday challenge quilt. I hope she likes red and lime green together! Just kidding. This year's challenge is a two color quilt. She chose this lovely deep red fabric with a delicate rose pattern. I got to pick the coordinating fabric. Does she trust me? Will she still love me when she sees this quilt?

Anyway, I was all set to quilt this afternoon and then the whole day got away from me. This morning was filled with Ian's soccer game (where he scored all but one of his team's goals - but they don't "keep score" - so everyone wins!) and then we went to the Vet school's open house. We saw some beautiful horses and lots of different breeds of cows. We even saw a sheep herding dog demonstration. The man directed the dog what to do by whistling - just his mouth - not a whistle. The sheep just looked bored and tired of the whole thing. Then I went and picked us up chinese for lunch. After lunch everyone was so crabby, I made us all take a nap while DH got some work done in the peace and quiet. After naps, we went looking for a new TV for the bedroom but ended up deciding to wait. By the time the kids came in from playing outside, it was time for baths, dinner, and bed.

How much sewing did I get done amongst all this? Exactly TWO four patches! Oh well....it was a wonderful day anyway...beautiful 70 degree weather...fun with the family...got to watch a couple episodes of 24, season 2.

But that leaves me with a lot of quilt to get done in the next six weeks! Wonder how my birthday quilt is coming.

Anyone out there know of a cute line of chocolate brown and light blue fabrics? I need to make a baby quilt in those colors. Let me know!

Words that start with "B" (a.k.a. my new excuses)

After my little fall off of the "no-buy" wagon over spring break, I got to thinking about the self-imposed rules. Most of us will agree that there are several B words that are allowable purchases - backing, borders, batting, bindings.

I came up with several other B words that I might have to allow:

1 - Babies - I have several baby quilts in my near future and I don't have a lot baby friendly colors in my stash. Both are going to be boy quilts. One mama-to-be is considering chocolate brown and light blue. That would so cute!

2 - Blues - just to depress Nines!

3 - things for Best Buddies! Surely, Nina will approve of this one!

4 - Bribery - I needed to buy some fat quarters for my mom - to bribe her into ever wanting to be left alone with 4 or 5 grandchildren again! It worked!

5 - just B-cause!


I got the blue and yellow hearts quilt quilted today. Now all that is left is my favorite part - the binding. In case you can't tell, that was me being sarcastic! I am subbing on Wednesday and then again next Monday and Tuesday, so I would really like to get this quilt out of the way.

Got to go make some chocolate chip cookies for the family!

How did it get to be April 6th?

I am sorry I have disappeared for so long. The last time I posted was the weekend before the week before spring break. Did that make any sense? Anyway...the week before spring break was also the Scholastic book fair at my daughter's school and yours truly was in charge of it. Fun, fun, fun. And to top it off, I subbed at the kindergarten on Thursday and at DD's school on Friday. We had a lovely spring break in Tennessee at my parent's house. The kids "helped" Papa build a tree house. It might have been quicker without their help! Me and my sister even got to have a day out together with only one of the five kids tagging along. Have you ever tried shopping for bras with an unhappy 22 month old? Exciting!

Yesterday I got to sew for about three hours straight! It was so peaceful! I managed to get these hearts machine appliqued onto the backgrounds while at my mom's house. Came home and found the perfect material for the sashing and borders. I like how it turned out. Plus it used up 2 yards from the stash and another 3 yards for the backing! I am hoping to get it onto the quilting machine today and maybe even finish it up this weekend.

I am a little surprised that Nine's hasn't tattled on me already! On my day out with my sister, we stopped by one of my favorite quilt stores in Goodlettsville, Tennessee and of course they were having a Shop Hop. They had a whole row of beautiful fabrics on clearance - most for about $3.99 a yard. I found a backing for my hand-dyed curves quilt. That purchase was legal! Then I found another blue that I fell in love with. OK, I fell slightly off the wagon. Just a little bit. But I climbed back on. I also grabbed a couple of fat quarters for Nines and for my mom (for watching the kids while me and sis went out!). When I got to the counter, the cashier told me that the fat quarters would be regular price unless I bought 20, in which case they would be a dollar a piece. I told her thanks, but I don't need 20 fat quarters. Later, I happen to look at my hand-written receipt and notice that I had bought 8 fat quarters for $2.50 each. 8 times 2.50 equals $20. Did she bother to tell me that I had already spent $20 and I should go pick out some more FREE fat quarters? NO! So I went back to the store on Friday on my way home and showed the manager my receipt. She very kindly told me I could go pick out my 12 free fat quarters. It would have been nice if the cashier could have told me this the first time around.

The thread in the picture is from Joann's. It is 40 wt. cotton quilting thread from Signature. Going to try it on the quilting machine. It is all variegated. Started off at $35. Marked down to $14.99. Rang up at $7.50! Good deal!

The white fabric is to make hand print quilts for the kids teachers. I am subbing in DS's class for two days in a couple of weeks. I plan on doing their hand prints then.

And this is my daughter, the artist. Last fall, she had a piece of artwork chosen to be in the Superintendent's Art contest. Each art teacher and principal picked one piece from each grade to represent their school. Then the district's super picked the pieces to go onto the state. Maddie was one of her school's representatives. Now she has had another piece (the cows behind her) chosen to be in an art show for the school district. They had a opening reception on Tuesday night. I think Maddie was more interested in the free chips and cookies!

What's new with you?

Where has this week gone? Here it is Friday already. My kids have the day off from school for a teacher work day. We are taking it easy. DD spent the night at a friend's house and will be home in a little while.

I ordered some new quilting thread last week. Donita Reeve's Love to Quilt store is no longer going to carry Aurifil thread so they have been having an amazing sale on their remaining stock. They are down to just a very few colors. The red spool is a little more orangey than I would have liked but I am sure it will get used!

These 4 heart blocks are part of a UFO that a friend wants me to finish for her (for pay). It was supposed to be a 12 block baby quilt. Ginger and one of her friends were going to learn how to quilt together. Anyway, her friend started to make Ginger this baby quilt about 4 years ago and never got it finished. The hearts all need to appliqued down. I told her I could add some sashing and a good sized border and make it into a lap sized quilt. She loved the idea. I am going to machine applique the hearts.

My parents were supposed to come visit us a couple of weeks ago but my dad threw out his back and they had to stay home. My mom went ahead and mailed Maddie's birthday gifts. My sister sent along this little present for me! There was no candy in the tin - just fabric! My middle name is Reeser - my great grandma's maiden name and my grandfather's middle name. So Reese's peanut butter cups have always been a favorite. They are DH and DS's favorite candy. Abby, my four and a half year old niece, helped my sister pick out the fabrics. Abby seems to have inherited Nina's amazing sense of color!

Have they lost their memory?

I sat down this morning to check my email and my daily blog reads and decided to turn on "Simply Quilts" to see what Alex Anderson was doing today. During her little intro she said that today's guest was Ann Fahl and she was going to show free-form patchwork.

Guess what this lady's new technique is! String quilts! At no time during the entire show does Alex or Ann say the word "STRING". Ann claims to have come up with this new idea about 15 years ago. Hhhmmmm....what about all those antique string quilts like the ones Bonnie talked about over on Quiltville ?

Ann Fahl even offers a one-day class on how to make her free-form patchwork. How could you need an entire day to learn how to make a string block?

Maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but this seemed a little ridiculous to me!

WOW! Twice in one day!

DH just called and his flight has been delayed - so that means my delayed house cleaning is OK! I finished up Ian's train pillow case. It is such a quick project! Instant gratification!

Isn't this train fabric great? It is perfect for an older boy that still loves trains. Very realistic.


The french seams made this whole project so nice and neat. Here is my quick little tutorial on french seams. First off, you lines the raw edges up - RIGHT SIDES OUT - WRONG SIDES TOGETHER !!! This goes against our training as quilters, but you can do it! Sew a seam, about 1/8 of an inch from the raw edges. Press the seam just like you sewed it. Then press the seam allowance to one side. Then flip the fabrics so the right sides are together and the raw edges of the seam are hidden inside. Press.


Now you can sew another seam (right sides together) about a quarter inch away from the edge.

Open the fabric and you will have a beautiful seam with all the raw edges enclosed. After I pressed this finished seam to one side (the striped fabric) , I did some top stitching to hold the seam allowance in that direction.

Finished seam, all nice and neat!


Now that the pillowcase is done, it must mean that it is time for a nap!

Spring green

DH has been out of town for a couple of days and the house is a pigsty (according to DD who is sitting next to me reading as I type). Thursday was spent passing out fundraising products (cookie dough) to parents. Yes, all day. I was at the school from 8:30 until 4:30. Not my idea of fun. But I survived. Yesterday morning I got to spend time trying to round up volunteers for the upcoming book fair. Can you tell that I am in PTA? Next year I am going to be a vice president. I am hoping that means a lot less of the actual labor and a lot more supervising! Haha!

So housework has not been happening. Yesterday I did manage to load the dishwasher and do a couple loads of laundry. DH will be home around dinner time so today will be spent picking up the house. It is amazing what a mess the place can become if I don't make the kids pick up their stuff on a daily (if not hourly) basis.

Last night I did manage to sew the binding onto this quilt. The reason it got done so quickly after the one pictured in the last post was because I used the same fabric for both bindings. I had about two yards of binding left over from the first quilt. It is the same fabric that I used for the backing on the lime green quilt. So after trimming the green quilt, I took the leftovers and used it to make up the rest of the binding. Once again, I put the whole thing on by machine.

I also started on a pillow case for DS. I bought some train fabric about two years ago, meaning to make him a pillowcase, and never got around to it. Since I don't have a serger ( and I hate seams that unravel), I am doing french seams. It takes some time but it looks so nice and polished when you are done. I will post some pictures when I get it done.

In the January/February issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting they gave directions for making a quillow. It looks so easy and cute. It would be a great way to use up some stash! I think I am going to make a pink one as a birthday present for a little girl from church. She will be going to kindergarten in the fall and they have to bring a blanket or a towel for nap time. In case you don't know what a quillow is, it is a blanket (quilt) that folds up into it's own pillow case that is attached to the back, making it into a little pillow. I will show you my progress when I make it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

More unsolicited advertising

Remember the beautiful quilt top made out of Denyse Schmidt fabrics that Susan sent me when I mentioned how wonderful the customer service is at her quilt store. I quilted it a while ago but it has been hanging out in my sewing room, hoping to be magically bound! Today I finally trimmed it and made the binding. Took me about two hours to make the binding and sew it on front and back (both by machine). I can't wait to cuddle up under it and read!

Thank you again, Susan! I LOVE this quilt!

San Antonio, anyone?

Does anyone out there in blogland have any suggestions for must-see things in San Antonio Texas? It looks like I will be able to go with DH in May when he attends an AIA conference there. We will be staying in the Riverwalk Marriott and probably will not have a car. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Look, Judy, I used it!

Remember back in the first part of February when Judy challenged us to go ahead and use some treasured piece of fabric? I decided it was time to use my hand dyed fabrics that I had been treasuring since last summer. This afternoon I got the last border put on this project. I like it! What do you think? What did you do with your treasured fabric?

Look, Girls! We are famous!

I got a ipod for Valentines day and have just discovered podcasts. Today I downloaded a quilting podcast from Annie Smith's Quilting Stash series called "Best of 2006" to listen to. As I am sewing along, listening to her lists of the best things from 2006, suddenly she says that one of her picks for best quilting blogs is "The Quilt Mavericks" blog ring. Imagine my surprise to hear that we are popular and a little famous!

So if you are looking for something to listen to while you are quilting, you can look on itunes for all kinds of cool podcasts.

2 hours ----- in one day!

Today I had the house to myself for a couple of hours and decided it was time that I get to sew! I haven't sewn anything in several weeks. Everything has been sitting there on my sewing table, just staring at me. It always seems like something else had to get done first. You know what? The dirty house isn't going anywhere - it can wait a while.

I was able to get this top pieced. It is going to be a lap quilt. The colors aren't exactly accurate in the picture but they are close. I am going to piece a few more flying geese for the border and then put them in a wide black border. I am going to quilt it with some varigated thread.

Monday night I am teaching a ladies' bible class. Usually our preacher's wife teaches but she has been asking for volunteers to help her out every once in a while. We are using a book about trying to manage our chaotic lives. The next chapter is called "Is your life a crazy quilt?" The point of the chapter is do you have a plan for your life (a pattern) or do you just take whatever is thrown at you (a crazy quilt). In general the author is saying we need to have goals! Anyway...how could I resist teaching a class that mentions quilts!

20 Yards of fabric

Do you know how much fabric will fit into a 11"x8.5"x5.5" box? One of the flat rate boxes from the post office. Let me tell you - it will hold about 20 yards of fabric. This came to me as a surprise - both good and bad. Good in that it means 20 yards is on its way to someone who will hopefully appreciate it and put it to good use it. Bad news in that such a little space holds that much fabric. That means that I have a whole lot more yardage in my stash than I had thought! I had better get busy!

I went through the stash this afternoon trying to pick out some fabric to mail to my aunt for her birthday. This aunt is my dad's only sister and the person who everyone says I look like. While I don't mind looking like her, I hope that I am as sweet and giving as she is. She has recently gotten into quilting. Her mom (my grandma that passed away a year ago) was a quilter. My aunt somehow got hooked on paper piecing. It is hard to pick out fabric for someone else. She recently had a new grand baby - Evie - so I picked out some things Aunt Faye could use for something cute for the baby.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Some thoughts on strep throat and V-Day lovies

Last week both of my kids came down with strep throat. We got them started on anti-biotics on Monday. So by Friday I thought I was safe - but no. My throat started hurting and Saturday I got to start on medicine too! After spending the entire weekend in bed, my throat is feeling better but I would still like to sleep all day!

Last Friday, before the strep hit, I made this little thing (the one on the right) for my niece for Valentine's day. It is about 6 inches by 7 inches. It is my hand dyed fabrics, fused together and then fused onto some batting. I did a little stitch in the ditch on my feather weight. Then I sewed the front to the back (right sides together) and flipped it around. Then to close that last seam I stitched around the entire edge, about an eighth of an inch in from the edge. DD like it so much that she wanted on too - so her's is the one on the left. The picture should be clickable for a better view.

I am hoping tomorrow to get to work some more on the flying geese quilt. I really like Judy's February quilt but I think I am going to hold off on it for a while. What are you all up to?

Wednesday's progress

Judy's good idea

When I was surfing around the Maverick ring yesterday, I was inspired by Judy's posts about using up her stash, especially about why we buy fabric that we LOVE and then can't bear to cut into it! Judy's February challenge to us is to go cut into that favorite piece and USE IT! This summer I dyed a pile of fat quarters. And then I dyed an even larger pile when Nines and I had our quilting retreat in Tennessee. These have been sitting there in a box, staring at me, begging to be used. But I couldn't bear to use them up. What am I saving them for? I was waiting for some divine intervention I guess.

So this morning I went and dug the box of my hand-dyed fabrics out of my closet and found a couple yards of black in the stash and set to work. I have been oohing and aahhhing over this quilt for some time. Sorry I can't remember whose quilt this is - if it is yours, leave a comment and I will add a link to your blog!

This morning I started working on the flying geese. As you can see, I got quite a few done. I haven't decided if this going to turn into a wall hanging or a lap quilt. Time will tell! Judy - thanks for the inspiration to finally use our prized fabrics!

Success

Yesterday was the baby shower. I got up and made the diaper cake. So far all the diaper cakes I have made have been for baby girls, so this blue one was a new twist. I love the turquoise and brown together. After a wonderful brunch of egg and sausage casserole, sausage balls, three kinds of cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, quiche, and cute little Petit Fores, it was time to open the gifts. The mommy to be received lots of goodies, including some of the Pottery Barn bedding I was trying to match. She received the crib dust ruffle and a baby pillow sham. Finally came the quilt. She loved it - but I was worried it wouldn't match. But it went perfectly! The fabrics were different but the colors were almost exact matches. Not too shabby considering I was working from a two inch by three inch picture I had printed off the computer!

I have started working on another UFO. This one is going to be a surprise present for someone so I can't show any pictures of the work in progress. I finished up the blocks yesterday and got the rows put together. I have got four of the rows sewn together - 5 more to go.

DS was sick last week but we thought he was on the mend. DD woke up this morning with a fever and a sore throat. Now DS is complaining that his throat hurts again too. I guess we will go see the pediatrician tomorrow. DD gets strep throat at the drop of a hat. Fun times!

Babies, babies every where!

My mom was kind enough to do the handwork on the binding for me! All that is left to do is the label. The baby shower is Saturday. I am also in charge of making one of my world famous diaper cakes, this time in blue.

My family left a day early. Ian woke up in the middle of the night with a belly ache and then had a sore throat this morning. My nephews and niece are not good sleepers when away from their own beds. So all of this added up to them packing up and leaving this morning. Me and Ian have had a very lazy day. Watching TV, surfing the net, taking a nap. DH is bringing home pizza for dinner.

I also came to the realization this afternoon that I do not want to get into the habit of making a quilt for each of the kid's teachers for the next twelve years. Maybe for exceptional teachers - we will see. That will be two less quilts hanging over my head. I want to quilt for fun, not because I feel like I have to. Is that too much to ask?

Better go get the drinks ready. Pizza will be here in a minute!

Mom's bones are done!

I concentrated this afternoon on finishing the quilting on my mom's bones quilt and got it done right before dinner. I tried a new-to-me batting called Hobbs Heirloom Premium cotton batting. It is actually a 80/20 blend. I really liked it - it is a little puffier than 100% cotton. Had to adjust the top tension on my machine a little bit. When I emailed my mom the finished picture, her reply was "But the binding isn't on it yet!" Ha ha ha!

Now tomorrow I can concentrate on getting my house back to its formerly clean state before my parents, sister, and her kids all arrive at about 2:30. Right now I think it is bed time!

A Saturday spent sewing

Today I had big hopes of getting the house all cleaned up again. Then my better sense (or my lazy sense) took over and I decided to take a nap and then sew some. I finished quilting the lime green quilt and then got my mom's bones quilt loaded on the machine. I need to get her quilt done before they get here on Tuesday afternoon - so she can take it home with her - and so I can sweet talk her into doing the hand sewing on the binding of the baby quilt!

I wanted to work on something new and exciting. OK, maybe older and exciting again! So I dug out a UFO that is made from the scraps of a top I made for the owner of the quilt store Nines works at. Here is the original quilt.

And here is what I did with the leftovers! Nines - don't tell Tonya that there were that many leftovers! This wall hanging is about 60 by 30. I used almost every last scrap. Can you see on the two side outer borders where I had to add a piece of an alternate color to get enough to make the border long enough? I have got maybe a square foot of fabric left over. This was a quick little project. I already had the two main blocks done. I just added the sashing between the two blocks and then put on the outer border. Now - how to quilt it? I need my mom and Nina to lay down before they read this next sentence. Yes, i am considering hand quilting it. With those big stitches I saw over on another Maverick's blog. What do you think? Can I do this?

Quilting away...

I have had fun this week - quilting away. So far I have gotten two and a half tops done. The baby quilt is done. The Denyse Schmidt top that Susan sent me is done. The loud lime green top I made last summer is about half done. Maybe tomorrow I will even get my mom's bones quilt loaded on.

The only problem with getting all these tops quilted is that I will have a pile of quilts that need to have the binding put on them. As Nina will testify - binding is my least favorite part. I have got to at least get the baby quilt bound before next Saturday. Surely I can do it in a week!

A soggy Tuesday

DH has had a bad cold for the past few days. The only time he ever snores is when he is congested. Last night it was so bad that I finally got up and went and slept with Ian in his twin sized bed. Not much better. I had to sleep on the outside for fear of pushing Ian right off the edge. I should have just slept with Maddie in her double bed, but I was afraid Ian would complain because I had slept with her last time daddy was snoring! This is all to explain why I didn't get much sleep last night and why I felt the need for a nap at 9:30 this morning!

Yesterday I got the baby quilt top all put together and even found a cute blue striped fabric in the stash to use for the backing. That's three yards down - 1000 to go! After my refreshing nap, I got everything loaded onto my quilting machine. Quilting on baby quilts always goes so nice and fast. I just did a simple little meander with little loopy-loops. Very delicate looking.

I was so inspired by getting the baby quilt done that I went in search of a backing for the beautiful quilt top that Susan sent me. I found a huge piece of a green on green print that will do just fine. Kind of a grassy green color. Another 4 yards out of the stash! I got the backing pieced and pinned onto the machine this afternoon. My goal for tomorrow is getting this one quilted.

When I was rearranging my stash a few weeks ago, I cleaned out the cabinets over the washer and dryer. Any piece of fabric over about two yards went up in this cabinet. That way I don't have to dig through the regular stash for a piece big enough to make a backing out of.

Hhhmmm....what to work on next? Maybe, while I am in the mood, I should work on quilting all the tops I have sitting here.

No more complaining!

I got tired of looking at my own whining! So I erased it! I agree with all of you about that if you give a quilt as a gift - it is up to the receiver how they choose to use it. I want the quilts to be loved and used - even to the point of being worn out.

The in-laws left this afternoon. My house is still relatively clean. Tomorrow I am going to pick up a few small messes and then give myself the rest of the day to sew! The baby shower is less than two weeks away.

How is everyone's no-buying resolutions going? So far I don't think I have even stepped foot in a fabric store. Safer that way, no?

New things in the new year

See this lovely quilt top? My fellow maverick, Susan, had this top languishing in her UFO pile, unloved and guilt inducing. When Susan read my recent post about the Denyse Schmidt wall hanging I made my sister for Christmas (with fabric from Susan's store), she mailed this top to me!!! I am so in love with it! I can't wait to get it quilted and start snuggling up under it! My sister is trying to talk me out of it. Not going to happen, my friend!

This is the progress I have made on the baby quilt that needs to be done by the end of January. It is the same pattern as the Christmas one my mom made for me. The blocks are made from three different sub-units - a one patch (the light yellow in the pic) and a two-patch (kind of a rail fence) and a four patch. Then the two big blocks are nine-patches - one made from the 4-patches and the one patches - and one made from the two-patches and the four patches. Ends up being a very random look. I am liking it - and I hope the mommy-to-be will like it too!

I have gotten to sew more these past two days than I have in the last several months. Nice and relaxing. Definitely need to make more time to sew some each day.

What have you all been up to this new year?

It is a small, small world

In the continuing effort to get the sewing room organized, tonight I sat down and cleaned out my notions box. Lots of odd things were lurking in there. A single, lonely knitting needle. Bias tape from long-ago abandoned apron project. Several pieces of red felt from a x-mas class project 2 years ago. And the two AQS show books from the two shows I had quilts in.

I opened up the Paducah 2004 book and pulled out the judges' comments sheet. I read through it and glanced down at the judges' names. Julie Powell. Libby Lehman. And Gabrielle Swain, whose blog I often read when surfing around Melody Johnson's blog. How did I miss that before? Then when I was looking at the actual show book, I found the page my quilt was listed on and started reading down the list of quilts that were close by. Who should I run across but Deb R from over at Red Show Ramblings.

If you are interested in seeing the quilts I had in the shows, you can go read this post.

One of my x-mas quilts

I finally got around to taking a picture of the christmas quilt my mom made me. It is the perfect size to hang above my sewing table. So what if it is christmasy colors and it is already January? I gave mom the olive colored fabric with the polka dots on it. She was oohing and ahhing over it at Hobby Lobby one day and I managed to get a half yard of it for her without her noticing. Mom hand quilted it using Tonya's free-hand baptist fans. Thanks again Mom - I love it!

I worked some more today on reorganizing the sewing room. Getting rid of lots of scraps. Now I can't wait to get my new sewing table into the room.

I have had several funny comments about not buying any fabric this year. I consider my fabric stash to be a reasonable size. It all fits inside of a normal size bedroom dresser. But this is still way more fabric than I could use up in several years! I have already told my mom that she needs to call me before she goes shopping at JoAnn's. I also told my sister that she needs to take up quilting in a big way - so that she too can help use up this fabric! It is not that I don't love buying new fabric - but why buy fabric if I am never going to use it? I want to try and make several more Quilts of Valor this year. Does anyone know of any other charities that collect quilts for adults? Most of my fabric is more adult oriented.

Happy quilting!

New Year's resolution

Today is being spent reorganizing all my quilting stuff. My MIL is bringing me an old library table (36wide x 70 long x 30 high) that she used to have in her bedroom. After trying to decide where this table could go, I figured out that with a little reorganization, it would fit in my sewing room. The sad part is that it will have to replace the table my dad built me. I am hoping that the two side pieces (which the large shoe-box size plastic boxes fit perfectly in) will fit underneath the new table. I use the shoe boxes to organize current projects and notions.

Anyway.... in the process, I am reorganizing my closet, where the majority of my fabric is stored. Then that led to reorganizing the fabric in the cabinet above the dryer and I am sure that will lead to reorganizing the bottom of the pie safe!

I tell you all this in order to announce (again!) .....
NO FABRIC BUYING FOR ME THIS YEAR!!!

Who is going to join me?

Almost a New Year!

We are home from our trip north and have enjoyed just having time to hang out and do nothing! We were here at home for Christmas morning and the kids finally woke up around 7:30. DH and I were sure that we would be awakened by them at about 5 a.m. - but instead we were awake first! We opened our gifts here and then headed north.

The trip was going great - very light traffic - until we got to the south side of Nashville. There was a accident that happened about a quarter mile in front of us and blocked all four lanes of traffic. We sat completely still for an hour. After seeing no police coming (firetrucks and ambulances arrived right away) , all the traffic decided to try to do a 180 and drive the wrong way down the shoulder. We were in the far right lane and decided to stay still. We had already seen two tow trucks driving down the shoulder with cars that had had fender benders BEHIND us. It was pretty scary to watch people in the far left lane trying to turn across four lanes of traffic. Five police cars finally showed up to direct traffic around the remnants of the wreck.

The kids barely made it through dinner before wanting to rip into the rest of their gifts. First we played a dirty Santa game - where I somehow ended up with one of my great-aunt's quilts. (I will post a picture later.) Then when we opened our regular gifts, my mom had made me a lap quilt in Christmas-y colors. (Again - pictures to come!) The picture above is of the wall hanging I made for my sister. She is the one who first introduced me to Denyse Schmidt quilts. We both fell in love with her style and fabrics. This is made from Denyse Schmidt fabric that I ordered at Susan's store! I am hoping it matches the colors in her dining room.

We had our big Christmas dinner on Tuesday afternoon. We ate a lot but there was still a ton of leftovers. Unfortunately, my mom's frig decided to die at some point during the night on Tuesday - so Wednesday morning we had to throw everything out. We were all so sad! My dad kept asking if we were sure it was spoiled. The temp was above 80 degrees in the frig - I am sure it was spoiled! DH and I were still craving leftovers so last night we cooked turkey and dressing here at home! Yummy!

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's! We are planning to hang out here at home and be in bed before midnight. Yes, we live on the wild side!

An early Christmas

Ever since my kids got sick in October, I feel like I have been running in circles. There were several weeks in November where I had one or the other of them home from school everyday. Maddie was the worst - I was afraid she was getting pneumonia again, but she didn't. We are all on the mend now.

For Thanksgiving we headed to Arkansas and then to Nashville. On our drive up to Little Rock, me and hubby came down sick. By the time we got to bed that night, I was running 101.5 fever. We survived the week of travel and made it home safely.

Then came the start of the Christmas rush. I was the PTA chairperson for the school bookfair. I tried to keep my schedule open in case anyone called in sick and I needed to fill in. Amazingly, every single person showed up to work! The librarian said that was the first time that has ever happened.

The kids are now out of school and hyper! Yesterday we concentrated on organizing and cleaning Maddie's room. And today was Ian's turn. Ian feels the need to keep every little scrap of paper he has ever drawn on (a trait he gets from his daddy, the architect).

Yesterday, Christmas came early to our house. First of all, three packages arrived. One was from my mom - stuff for our stockings. One was from Stacy's brother and SIL - gifts for the kids. And one was from Nines - for me!!! Yeah!! She made me a lovely scrapbook of our quilting retreat at my mom's house! She is spreading her talents to other things besides quilting.

My DH also decided we each needed to open one gift. He claims he was worried he might have to exchange my present - but after opening the box, I think he just wanted me to be able to play with it! Ian was convinced it was a sewing machine because the box was so big! That would have been ok too! It was a lovely Dell laptop. It is so nice to be able to sit on the couch and surf the web!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. Hope everyone gets all of their christmas quilting done in time! Tomorrow I need to get a wallhanging quilted. Nothing like waiting till the last minute!

Presents in the mail

In today's mail, I received this lovely gift from my friend Jim - the solider who I made the star quilt for. He is a blackhawk helicopter pilot and has been in Iraq numerous times.

The paper says " Operation Iraqi Freedom, This American Flag was flown aboard a MH-60K Blackhawk on a combat mission in September 2006. For Sarah Norman , Your support of the troops, those injured in combat, my family and for me will not be forgotten. Thank you! Jim Boyd" In the bottom left is a small picture of Jim in front of his helicopter. In the right hand corner is a picture of his units insignia. He also quoted Aristole, "We make war that we may live in peace."

How cool is that?

Thanks for reminding me, Nines!

I did my usual morning routine - get up, check email, check and see if Nines had posted anything new. And she had! Reading her rather hyper post (and she claims to be off caffeine!) reminded me that I had not posted the picture of my friend Jim, the sweet man who I made a QOV for. Yes, I am the floating head next to him. Jim is due to be deployed to Iraq for a month sometime next spring. Then he is getting out. He has a extremely sweet family. Me and his wife agreed that if we lived closer we could be really good friends. Not that you can't be friends long distance!

My little guy is home sick today with a fever. Of course he doesn't want me out of his sight. I will have to convince him to come sit in the sewing room!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Quilting, quilting, quilting

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still alive and well!

The same Saturday night that I got the binding put on the pink and brown quilt, I also got the binding put on the scrappy quilt below. I am giving it to two friends that are getting married right before Christmas. Her bridal shower is tomorrow night. Hopefully, not too many college girls will be there - so they all won't start expecting a "wedding" quilt. (The two people getting married are in their mid- 40's.) This quilt was already done except for the binding and was just sitting there waiting for a good home!

Sunday afternoon there will be a baby shower for a lady from church. This family's oldest child is Ian's age - 5.5 years old. This one will be number 4! We are all excited because this one will be a girl - after 3 boys! This quilt was made from the leftovers from the quilt me and my mom made for my cousin's new baby girl. The only thing I had to buy was the pink for the border and the backing. I love the polka dots!

Naomi - DON'T READ ANY FARTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE YOUR CHRISTMAS PRESENT. Can you be trusted?

Today I got to sit down and piece a while. A few weeks ago, Susan posted a picture of a quilt her daughter had made and it had a great polka dot fabric in it. I had to get some for me and a friend - so I emailed Susan to double check that it had come from her store. When I called to order it, I happened to think to ask the lady if they carried Denyse Schmidt's fabric line for Free Spirit. They do! So I asked the lady to send me a variety of fat quarters in blues and greens. My sister is the one who turned me onto Denyse Schmidt - so I am using the fabric to make her a wall hanging for her dining room. Yes, it will match - her dining room is a lime green color!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

It's done! It's done! It's done!!!

Can you tell that I am just a little bit excited to be done, done, done with the pink and brown pineapple quilt? I was able to calm down and get the binding done this afternoon. Nina actually called me this morning and told me to just quit getting stressed out over stuff!

In other news, I made a batch of yummy muffins last night. Actually I made a double batch. 24 yummy breakfast muffins. See, maybe some of Nina's baking talents have rubbed off on me! I promised Nina the recipe - so here you go!

Coffee Cake Muffins

makes 12 muffins

Mix dry ingredients:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I added at least twice that!)

1/2 cup sugar (could do half sugar/half splenda)

Mix Wet ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt - low fat

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix wet and dry. Makes 12 miffins - 2 WW points each. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes.

How to ruin a binding in several easy steps

Nina asked how did I ruin the binding. It is very easy to mess up binding if you are stressed out! First, you sew it on with too wide of a seam. That means there won't be enough fabric to turn over to the back. Then you try to remedy the problem by trimming the seam a little bit, which makes the binding almost disappear on the front. The you also, accidentally, cut the fabric on the corner and leave yourself a nice hole when you flip the binding over. Then you give up and rip it all off and start over! I still wasn't able to face it again today.. maybe tomorrow!

Car update - DH and I went by the dealership this morning and DH asked if they had any new info. on the backordered part. The service manager said they would be checking on it sometime this morning and would give us a call. Stacy told him about my planned trip out of town and the service manager said they would get me a rental if the car wasn't done by Wednesday!! I called them at noon and the backordered part was supposed to be shipped today and arrive on Monday. And if everything goes perfectly, I WILL have my car back on Wednesday. The good news is that they are also fixing the driver's seat belt which was causing the airbag light to stay on and they are also fixing Maddie's seat belt, which locked in position as soon as you put it on. Honda warranties their seatbelts for the life of the car. Yeah Honda!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I am off to clean up the sewing room. It is currently about waist (or waste!) deep!

I should have stayed in bed...

This day has gone from bad to good to worse. The air conditioning on my 2002 CRV went out on Monday and we took it in to Honda on Wednesday morning at 8 am. Still no answers by last night at 5. They called this morning to say that the compressor was falling apart from the inside out and had totally contaminated the entire A/C system. The whole thing will need to be replaced. The Honda lady said that the service manager was willing to "help us" on this. BIG HINT that they know something is all their fault. He was willing to cover the parts (about $2000) and we would just pay for the labor (about $800). I told the lady "Thank you" and that it was a great offer but that hubby was going to want to talk to someone higher up the Honda ladder. He had already surfed the web and found out the '02/'03 compressor are widely known for self destructing! So I get off the phone with her and call DH and leave a message to call me a.s.a.p. About ten minutes later I get another call from Honda lady saying that the service manager had called their district manager and had been told to cover the whole thing!! Yeah!!!! They said it should be done next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Then this afternoon I decided to work on the binding for the brown and pink quilt. Let's just say that things have gone horribly wrong and I am ripping the whole thing off and starting completely over with new binding - TOMORROW!!! Do not try and put binding on when you are stressed out.

This afternoon I called Honda to tell them that I really need the truck back by Wednesday because me and the kids are going out of town on Thursday. The lady tells me that she had just heard from the parts department and they had gotten all our parts ordered but that one part was on backorder and there was no release date on it. In other words, they have no idea when it will come in. I calmly asked her what I was supposed to do without a car for an indefinite period of time. She said I could go rent one. I replied "That would be at least $40 a day out of my pocket." All she could say was "yes". I am going to try and talk DH into calling the manager and insisting that they either give us a loaner or rent us a car - especially since they can not give us a date the truck will be finished. Stacy had already said we could rent a car but I really don't think we should be the ones paying for it since the repair is something that Honda knows is a problem with their product.

Now you know why I need to go back to bed! It is DH's b-day so I am definitely going to make him take us out to dinner!

Can you see why me and Nines are friends?

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

A binding Saturday

Can you tell what I did today? Last night I got the brown floral fabric cut for the binding on the pink pineapple quilt and got the strips sewn together today. Then I cut and sewed the binding for this quilt. This is the quilt I am going to give to my friends as a wedding gift. And then the pink strips are for an outer border on a baby quilt. The baby shower is October 29 so I have a couple of weeks to get it done.

Did you notice that bright yellowy cutting board? I finally bought myself a new one this past week. After 7 years of cutting on the same one, the lines were worn off and it had some pretty deep valleys cut into it. This one is cool because it has the grid on both sides - so when one side gets worn out you can flip it over and keep going! The back side is a real pale pink.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

P.S. - Where are the pics of everyone else's laundry rooms?

The quilting is done!!!!

This morning I finished up the last of the quilting on Taylor's quilt!!! Yeah! In the wide brown border I did freehand loopy-loops and leaves and in the pineapple blocks I just did little petite loopy-loops. Someday I want to do beautiful quilting like Judy, and Darcie, and Bonnie, and Carolyn, and Nina, and........... But for now - loopy-loops work just fine!

After I finished the quilting, I got to spend 3.5 hours counting fundraising money at the grade school. UGH!!! It is amazing how parents can mess up such simple math! But it is done and the school will make about $10,000 for their new playground.

Nina said she wanted to see our laundry "rooms" - so here is mine. It is more like a big closet. Our cabinet maker had a couple of beautiful white cabinet that he had mis-measured and he sold them to us for a steal! The odd little nook at the far right is caused by the water heater closet out in the garage. I use it to store my vacuum. The closet has bi-fold doors that close it off from the hallway to my bedroom.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Yummy!

Here is a yummy fruit salad recipe.

3 chopped apples
1 can chunked pineapples with the juice (the can that is about 5 inches tall)
1 box instant white chocolate pudding - sugar free
1 small carton fat free kool whip

Mix it all together and chill!

1 cup = 1 point ( for any of you on Weight Watchers)

Not as huge as I thought!

I was a little concerned Friday night when I finished this top - that it was somehow it was going to be entirely too huge for a queen size bed. You remember this quilt, don't you? So yesterday morning I made up my bed and then threw the quilt top over to see how it fit. Perfect!

After spending several hours at the soccer field for pictures and a game, we made it home in time for lunch. After a quick nap, I managed to get the backing pieced and loaded on the machine. I ran out of steam after piecing the batting. Now I can go at the quilting without having to face several hours of other stuff first!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!