The best laid plans of mice and men - and me

Oft go awry... it wasn't until about 5 last night that I accepted the fact that the border fabric I had purchased for my customer's quilt was not going to work.  I was really hoping that Cassie's shop would be open today so that I could find something more suitable - then I could still get the quilt done this weekend.  Well, she was closed and won't reopen until Tuesday - sigh.  I checked at the Hen House to see what they might have - nothing that would work for this project; did find a couple fabrics for my next project though :).

  I THINK the print I have might work IF I put a narrow blue strip between the red inner border and the outer print border... It looks good to me - will take it to Cassie's on Tues to see what she or Linda think.  IF they agree that the narrow blue strip will do the trick, then all I'll have to purchase more of is the blue.

Stopped at Walmart to see if, by chance, they might have what I'm looking for - there was some airplane print, but not really what I was looking for.

So much to do - so little time to do it.  Deadlines are looming.

Off to play with paints...

TTYL

Super Simple Sunday -

Well, that was my plan anyway.  I was going to work on a few projects that SHOULD have been quick and easy.

First up was April's block that I received the pattern for on Saturday while at sew in.  A simple star in a star pieced block.  FIVE freakin' hours later, it was as done as it was going to get.  I couldn't believe it took me that long!!!

look how 'off' the right side of the blue star is... arghhhh!!   I had followed Colette's advice and made the seams a slight quarter inch ( like 3/16")  - that was a BIG mistake.  Took it apart and tried again, this time using 1/4" seams except for in the white/yellow seams ( I didn't want to have to do them again if I didn't have to).

Here's 'finished' block attempt #2...

OOPS!!

FINALLY got it right.... a couple of the seams don't match exactly, but close enough.

here's the scraps left after all the ripping and wrangling.... and there's probably more, but this was the pile next to my machine.

Then it was on to trying Linda G's block again since my first attempt produced a 8.5" block while others are reporting that their's are coming out 10.5".  Paper piecing - something normally pretty simple for me... not yesterday!!   I gave up on trying to keep track of how long it took me just to do the top piece.  First off, I got carried away and pieced it all using the bus fabric - didn't allow for the sky around it... rip them out... then, one of the smaller pieces didn't lay down flat and it got caught in following stitching - of course, I didn't notice it until two or three pieces later.  Then I somehow covered up  a tiny piece and had to take out almost all of the background pieces.  ( Now that it's done I've noticed that another piece didn't lay down as flat as it should have, but I'm not messing with it again).  I finally gave up and went & watched tv until bedtime - which ended up not being until almost 1 a.m. :(

Got up this morning and started working on the second piece of the bus block... no problem; on to pieces three, four, etc... without having to rip out any more seams.  I didn't have a long enough piece of fabric for the last piece so I dug through my gray stash and found a piece that works for road pavement under the bus.

AFTER I finished, I noticed two little mistakes... I'm NOT going back to correct them.  Linda might not even notice.  :)

I still haven't finished the quilt that's on Mo'e... 

quilting is done except for the borders.  I had hoped to do it yesterday, but obviously it didn't happen because of the hair pulling I was doing over those two 'simple' blocks.  It's on my to-do list for today along with some YUCK housework.  Load of laundry going... still need to finish loading dishwasher and get that going.  Have a pie to make for hubby's friend, Clarence, who mows our lawn for us.  Then on to clearing out the dining room so that we can shampoo the carpet sometime this week.  I also have a baby quilt to get started on, along with running into Gall's with Colette.

That's it for now....

TTYL

Non-productive weekend

Well, not completely... I did go to a quilt show and then a quilt shop with cousin, Cathy, and friend, Vicki, on Saturday... got some great yardage at the quilt show's 'yard sale'... I think there was about 9 yards of fabrics and I paid $14 - not as good a deal as the first time I went to their show, but was still good price for what will probably be used as backing for future quilts.  As for the quilts, maybe I've become a little jaded, but I only saw a couple that completely wowed me; one was made completely from 1/4" hexies  with applique'd borders- something I'll never do.

 I can't even remember what the other one looked like, but I think it was the colors that impressed me; didn't take a pic, darn it.  I dud take a couple more pics but they were for the quilting not the quilt themselves.

Speaking of backing, I finally got around to piecing the backing for the bug quilt yesterday.  It's now laid out waiting to be loaded onto Mo'e which may not get done until tomorrow afternoon.

Going to do some housework today.. so tiring and seemingly useless - it'll just get dirty again and need cleaning again.

TTYL

It's been a LONG LONG day

Still had problems with getting this 'guild' quilt done.  There are tiny eyelashes on the back, but I'm not going to go back and try to redo them.  I THOUGHT I had everything worked out, but looking at the back now that it's off the frame... there were other little boo boos here and there.  It's not my best work, but I like it.

There's still one 'orphan block' left... but I'm going to wait til another day to work on that one... I'm tired of feathers and micro stippling.

Tomorrow, I MIGHT work on the teddy bear panel that Linda B. found in our charity quilt fabric stash.  I wanted to get that baby quilt onto Mo'e but I'm going to wait a couple of days to let my body recover ( and to reserve energy for the quilt show in Jackson this coming weekend).

That's all for today.... weather is rainy and YUCKKY.

Oh, and note to self:... Mo'e didn't want to stitch a couple of times - keep an eye on him and if it happens again, call Jason to get someone out here.  Oh, and the bottom front bar fell off again - need that fixed, too.

TTYL

Counting to Ten

Very Slowly....

I finished yesterday's project

Wait until you see what I used for the backing.... wait for it.... wait for it....

It's one of those printed panels that you cut out and assemble... this one was for a vest - well, that wasn't going to happen  LOL.  In the pic it's turned sideways so that you can see it a little better.

Now, for this morning's quilting... here's where we count to 10 ... Very Slowly....  I have the guild's quilt that Gloria gave me to quilt up.  Practice piece went just fine.... the quilt itself is going fine, it's just that my top thread kept breaking and I was getting VERY frustrated.  It didn't help that Chewy (one of our cats) was yowling for his lunch ( started about 10:30 - lunch is at NOON).  I ended up turning my cd player's volume up ALL THE WAY just to drown him out.

And to add to my frustration, I'm waiting to hear back from the urologist's office AGAIN.  We're trying to schedule an appointment for hubby so that he can get the stent removed.  I really don't want to drive to East Lansing ( it will take longer to get there than it will for them to remove the stent) and want it done here in town.  When I asked the dr. about it on Friday, he said it could be done here in town on Wed., but he's not scheduled to be there this week and, apparently, his associate who will be here, doesn't do 'jobs' for other in the practice.  Ratchin' Fratchin'!!

Ok  back to Mo'e.... the top thread kept breaking  arghhh!   Finally think I found the problem... it's the first eyelet that the thread goes through from the cone; the thread was catching on it.  I tried just about everything else trying to figure it out... waiting for Jason to return my call ( found the problem after I called him)... you wouldn't think that I'd need a new plastic 'eye' for it already, but maybe.  All I knew was that I had used the thread before without any problems - so why, all of a sudden was it acting up.  It was a new bobbin - a prewound that my cousin, Cathy, gave me.  I'm assuming that it's Bottomline thread.    It ( the bobbin case) was giving me a little problem at first, but wasn't the cause of the top thread breaking.

The dr's office just called back... hubby has appt for Wed. afternoon here in town.  But now they have to call me back to let me know if the dr wants a follow up ( his associate WILL be removing the stent) in a week or so.

Ok, guess I'll try and work on the guild quilt again.  Crossin' my fingers that it will work right this time.  ( of course, it wouldn't act up like this if it had been one of my practice pieces! )

TTYL

Jason just returned my call... it's not the eyelet, I just need to use the cone pin closest to the pole (that holds the eyelet 'arm')... otherwise, there's too much friction and it'll mess up.   I don't know why they have two cone holders if you're only supposed to use one... shaking my head.

Happy Mother's Day

Here's what I am working/playing on today.  Dug this out of my stash and loaded it onto Mo'e so that I can play before I get started on quilting the latest baby quilt ( the one with all the bugs on it).  Wait until you see what I'm using for backing LOL.... it's another one of those 'kits' printed onto yardage - this time for a Christmas vest.  There's no way I'd ever make the vest so I might as well use it for a backing.

Was going to switch back to cotton threads so that I could use my grass green thread, but I was having problems with the tension ( maybe because I didn't change needle sizes? ) and said "Forget it".  I have two new cones of a dark blue So-Fine and decided to use that... no empty bobbins so grabbed a prewound ( which I'm assuming is Bottom Line)... tension is great now.  I run my hand over the bottom/back of the quilt and feel nothing but smooth fabric - PERFECT!!  Doing simple stipple and 'pine branches' so far.. and following the outlines for the snow people and some of the lines for the trees behind them.  I have to remind myself not to stitch on EVERY line - *KISS* = Keep It Simple, Stupid.

And on that note, I'm back to playing.

TTYL

Bugs Baby Quilt

All of a sudden the other day, it dawned on me that I had some green yardage that might work great for the borders for the baby quilt... went and pulled it out & laid next to the blocks - PERFECT!  I decided to continue using the white for the sashing and the green for the borders.

Got the horizontal sashing in with no problem - too easy, huh?  Yep.... came time to add the vertical sashing and then the troubles began... first off, the strip was longer that the row of blocks, thought I could work with that, but then I couldn't get the horizontal sashing to match up.  I took the vertical strips and saturated them with Best Press then did the same with the row of blocks - then figured out how to mark the sashing strips so that the horizontal ones would match up... worked a.o.k.  :)...

Now I'm having to do the same with the outer sashing/inner borders.  Still some 'waving' but nowhere as bad as it was before Best Press and then steam & misted water.  We'll see how it goes once I get the outer border on and then get it loaded onto Mo'e ( and who knows when that will happen - hopefully sometime this month).

That's about it for me quilting wise - this 'lovely' Michigan weather has me taking more naps.... what is it about rainy days that make you sleepy??  I lay down for an hour, but find myself waking up THREE hours later.  I tried setting the alarm on my phone and that worked for awhile, but lately, I just reach up & turn it off then go back to sleep.

I did get part of a kitchen cupboard cleaned out yesterday... the one with 'tupperware' and spices... I purged about 1/2 of the 'tupperware' - orphaned dishes/lids without mates.  Let's see how long it stays neat and tidy... not long knowing my hubby ( who takes care of dishes from the dishwasher).  Oh well, at least I accomplished something.

Back to working on the quilt...

TTYL

Ok, got all the sashing/inner borders on... still SOME waving that hopefully will flatten out once I get the outer borders on.

So 'buggin' cute!!

Got the top DONE!!

Still some 'waves' in the white inner borders but I'm still hoping that they'll quilt out. 

Oh, and my new copy of Adoration Quilts arrived today... whew!!  now I can start collecting fabrics for the wall hanging I want to make my oldest for Christmas.

TTYL

Conundrum

That's what I found myself in this past weekend.  Trying to decide which fabrics to use for the current quilt in progress.  Wasn't quite happy with what I had specifically purchased for the borders... then I read Colette's blog and realized that I had picked the same exact print that she had for her Scalloped Potato quilt... nope, not going to work.  

Finally, late yesterday afternoon, I had an epiphany!! - well, kind of .. lol.  I suddenly remembered that I had some light green yardage that I had purchased but not used in my stash closet.  I grabbed one of the pieces and held it up to the green print and it looks to me like an almost perfect match.... wahoo!!  Nixed the red and the circle print for the sashing and borders... going with the same white that I used inside the blocks for the sashing and this 'newly found' green for the outer border. 

Had a bit of a problem with the sashing last night... I was TRYING to be careful with the blocks because the outer edges are on the bias and the sashing fabric also had too much stretch in it so it was making it more than a little hard to get my horizontal sashing to match up - they aren't going to match perfectly, but I'll do my best and hope that once quilted it won't be as obvious.  I took the two remaining inner sashing strips and heavily doused them with Best Press so they won't be so stretchy... and I may end up taking out the first vertical sashing strip to do the same with.  I'm thinking it wouldn't hurt to spray the blocks themselves, too.  I may have to make a run to The Hen House for more Best Press :).

On a less stressful note, I traced the patterns for the remaining two 16" blocks for the Vintage Tin quilt ... leaving me with only three more to trace and stitch after I finish embroidering these.  Then I get to start the piecing that goes around each block.  I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel with this one... it's just a faint little spot of light, but I can see it.  :)

Have to go get some groceries and other errands today so probably won't get much done in the sewing room.  I've been waiting for today - weatherman had said it was going to be sunny and warm - looking out the window, I can tell that he was WRONG AGAIN.  :(  It might get warmish, but I certainly don't see much chance for sunny.  Come on Mother Nature - it's MAY!  We struggled through yet another cold, annoying winter - bring us the Spring you promised us!!

TTYL