Done and getting closer to done

First off, this afternoon  ( after dr. appt, stop at p.o. and walmart) I went back to working on the bovine quilt that's still on Mo'e.  Didn't get quite a complete row done, but pretty close... the blocks are done and the sashing between the blocks is done... I just need to do the sashing on top and bottom and then stitch on the borders.  It was a very slow day... very little chocolate and I was really in need of a nap that didn't happen.

 After dinner, I was determined to finish the Chubby Chicks quilt top... and I did - and without having to rip out any long seams - just a couple threads in a couple of places so that I could flip the seam to the other side... oh, and I had to rip out one seam at the very beginning... when I was piecing strips together for the outer borders.. turned out that one strip was 3 1/2" and the other one was 3 7/8". 

Now that it's done and I've taken a pic... even if not a very good one, I can take it down and set to working on my BOMs and RSC for April and May - yeah, I'm that far behind.  I'll do it Wednesday while our car is in the shop.

That's it for tonight...

take care... ttyl

More progress than I thought

I'd make...

 first inner border on... I can't remember if I had that on last night or not... I'd have to go back and check.

Here, I'm channeling my "Bonnie K. Hunter"... the flying geese weren't too bad... they were largish... 3 1/2" x 6" and there were only 32... I didn't count as I was cutting pieces so I ended up with four more geese plus a few extra pieces of the two colors.  Better too many than not enough.  Oh, and as you might be able to see in the pic, I stitched two seams in each piece so that once the triangle was cut off, it would already be a half square triangle block.  I'm thinking that I might take the left over charm squares and make some more chicks to go onto the background of the half square triangle blocks - should be enough for at least one, if not two, doll quilts.

There was a problem when it came time to sew the middle borders on.  In the above pic, you can see one of the sides - we'll call this the offending side, because that's what it ended up being....  Here, the border is facing the right way.. somehow between the wall and my sewing machine, it got switched...

and I didn't notice until all four sides were on... arghhhhh.  Thank goodness it didn't take too long to take it back apart just along the offending side, turn it - make sure the green points were facing the correct way and then sew it back on.

One more border to go... this time another solid one of green.  Then, it can go on the Waiting To Be Quilted pile.   

Hubby has another dr. appt tomorrow so probably not much will get done in the morning, but maybe I can get this one finished in the afternoon.

It's a little early for bedtime, but I'm exhausted.

take care... ttyl

Small progress from a long day

Well, it seems that way anyway... I worked about 10 hours... ok, well less than an hour was UNsewing... row sewn on with chicks upside down, seams pressed one way but flipped over during stitching... you know .. that kind of stuff.

But the main part of the quilt is done...

 I had some problems with the pinwheels; I was to cut 3 7/8" blocks, draw down the middle from one corner to another... you know the routine.  Cut them apart and stitch back together in sets of 4... I don't usually cut 7/8"... it's a real pain.  But I didn't stop and take a deep breath & give myself a minute to figure out what the finished size should be so that I could cut at 4" and then trim down to the correct size.  It would have been simple to do, but I couldn't figure it out 'on the fly';  like I said, if only I had stopped and taken a breath and maybe even did a practice block... p.s. what I needed was 3 1/2" - the same size as the chubby chicks blocks.  So, some of the pinwheel blocks are a little larger than they should be and some are just right... 

Next up is the simple inner border... then a flying geese border and finally the outer border... I don't think I'm going to have this done by the end of this weekend... the flying geese are side by side but there are still a LOT of them to make.

Ok, 11:30 and Buddy is being patient but he's still ready for bed.

take care

TTYL

Ferrero Rocher time

I stopped working on the latest chicken quilt ( Chubby Chicks) to add a border to the quilt that's been hanging on my design wall the past few days

 Modern Puzzle by Christa Quilts

I needed the design wall to start hanging my Chubby Chicks on

 This is how much I've gotten done so far today/tonight - when I wasn't working on the Modern Puzzle border or the one that I started tonight... the pic is below.

But first, Mr. Prissy wanted his pic taken.  I told him to smile and say "Cheese" ( one of his favorite foods) but, in usual cat style, he posed the way HE wanted to.  LOL silly cat.

Ok, here's the block I started tonight... I've got so many pieces of this fabric and that fabric laying around my sewing room that I figured I'd start this quilt and use up some of those pieces... Did I do that with this block?  Nooo, but I did go digging in my scrap bins for the colored pieces.  The background is pieces of this and a few pieces of that... 9 x 13" is too big to be called scraps... well, that and I did cut them from larger pieces.

 Here's a pic of the quilt.... I should be able to use up LOTS of scraps on these.  Twin size... I'll have to check my yardage collection for the borders but that should be all - well, maybe backing, too... or I may have to do some piecing for the backing - we'll see.  I'm not in a rush to get this one done; I figure I can use fabrics left over from whatever project I'm currently working on.

Tomorrow, it's back to working on the Chubby Chicks and I'm going to try and spend some time working with Mo'e ( my LA).  I want to get the bovines done and off the frame so that I can get the next thing on there; I brought a charity quilt top in need of borders and quilting home from the guild meeting last night - got to get it done, too.

ok, Buddy's waiting...

take care...

TTYL

Catch Up... sort of

After spending most of yesterday either in the dr's office or in E.R. with hubby, I didn't feel much like sewing or doing much of anything else.  I even stopped by Arby's on the way home to pick up something for dinner.  He now has an appt to see our g.p. on Monday - hoping for better news than we got yesterday - which really wasn't much.

So, the other night while I was watching another episode of Midsomer Murders, I thought to myself "well, if you're going to be sitting here watching, you might as well do something" so I started cutting out the chickens that I had traced onto paper back fusible.  That didn't take long, so I thought I might as well go ahead and press them to the fabric - there are 25 chickens and 25 beaks so it didn't take long.  Ok, well the show is still on - might as well cut them out, so I did.  By then the show was over and Buddy was bugging me to go to bed.

Today, after making phone calls back and forth with our g.p.s office, and while talking to my friend, Marnie, I got the chicks and their beaks fused onto the backgrounds and their feet drawn onto the background squares.  After I got off the phone ( and while listening to yet another episode of MM), I started stitching them down with matching threads & buttonhole stitches.

I was debating on how to do the legs - either by hand or machine... I think machine is going to win out because I have a 'heavy' stitch on my machine that will work great for this.  Then it will be time to sew on the eyes - by hand before I start making the pinwheels.  I was thinking about using white and green for the pinwheels but I'm not sure the white would look as good with the chicken wire print... I have enough fabrics that I can do a test block of each the white & green and the chicken wire & green.

This is my third, but probably not my last chicken quilt.  I found a second set of chicken patterns at fatcatpatterns.com and have printed them out... kind of wild chickens that will be fun to do.  I still have a few charm squares left from the ones I'm using for this Chubby Chicks quilt and I might be able to use them for the "What the Cluck" quilt... then again, maybe not...either way, I'm sure I've got some bright fabric scraps for the WTCs.

And on that note, I'm going to finish my snack and try to figure out where I put my bottle of pop and go back to working on the CC's.

take care

TTYL

Short post

because it's after 11 and Buddy wants to go to bed - and won't go without me.

 For those of you who haven't met Buddy or seen pics of him... here he is... now who can say no to that face?

Ok, so I'll make this short and fast...  I finally got these rows all sewn together and took the leftover bits and stitched them together for, what I think, will be a thin border.  Then I'll have to find something for the binding - I have a little bit of one of the blues that I added to this top but I don't think it will be enough for binding.. I'll check it later to be sure.

I did work on the bovine quilt for a little bit but my left leg wasn't going to allow me to do more than maybe 1/2 hr at a time.  So after finishing the above top, I started cutting out the paper back fusible that I had traced 25 chicks and their beaks on to and ended up fusing them to the fabrics and cutting them all out.- all while watching another episode of Midsomer Murders.  Now, I just need to cut the background blocks and, I think, some pinwheel blocks. 

Ok, off to bed.... take care

ttyl

Nothing to report... maybe tomorrow

No More RIP

at least for now.  I finished ripping out stitches about 3  yesterday afternoon.

Of course, that left LOTS of  'holes' where threads had been removed, but a quick spray of water across the 'offending' areas and the holes are gone.

By 9 last night, I had the borders restitched.  I was going to do them in white, then considered the off white that I have... then decided that the light gray/silver that I'm using  in the sashing looks good so I stayed with it.  Just something simple that kind of repeats the inner checkerboard border and the stitching in the white sashing.  I'd thought about going over it again a couple of more times with 'looser' /less straight lines and adding 'stars' here and there to represent barbed wire but then decided it wasn't really necessary.

The lines aren't going to be perfectly straight because I'm doing them without the help of a ruler - well, except for the long horizontal lines across the 'top' which is actually the side.  But even then, it's more of a loose straight line - I'm not stressing over accuracy.

I might get another row of blocks done today; I might not.  I DO have to do SOME housework as we have an insurance rep. coming tomorrow afternoon and hubby has to go to hospital for blood work and a CT scan around noon so there won't be a lot of time to do it tomorrow.

Oh!  Before I forget again, I wanted to share the fabrics that I've received in the mail this past week.  Erica's Craft & Sewing Center in South Bend, In. is going out of business ( time to retire) and has been offering great deals online.

This was in the first shipment...

I just love fabrics with words on them... these aren't all words - one has moustaches and it's fun!... I also ordered and received a charm pack packed inside this...

Then, later in the week, I received a second order from them....

Just one item this time, but what a fun one.... one yard of fun!   So much for my resolve NOT to buy fabric this year lol... aw heck - I broke that resolve a couple of months ago, but I really have been trying to stick to it -- just couldn't resist the great deals on the fun fabrics.

While going through one of my project boxes, I pulled out a set of McKenna Ryan patterns ( Dog Park) that I had bought on a F.A.R.T. (fabric acquisition road trip) over to the Ann Arbor area a few years ago and decided that I could start working on it one block at a time whenever the 'urge' hit me - good use of scraps, too.

Well, there are seven patterns in the quilt but for some reason I only had six... number two was missing.  I looked through the box again and again but couldn't find it.  It's not like me to buy something like that without having all the block patterns, but apparently I did ( or I just misplaced it).  So, anyway, I went online and found a supplier for the missing pattern and also for the embellishments that I didn't even know I'd need.   Ordered them and they have now arrived so I can start on them any time.... AFTER I do my RSC and my BOM for April.

Ok, enough stalling... I've got to get some -YUCK- housework done.

take care...

TTYL

RIP on hold part 2

Ok, since Katie (katiemaytoo@blogspot.com) sent me a message asking if I had done the blocks for the quilts for the survivors/family members/rescuers after the bus accident in Saskatchewan Canada, I told her I'd do a couple if she would... she made four, and sent me a pic of the pieces laid out before piecing/sewing them together... so I made four and sent her pics AFTER they were sewn together...

We were both at the guild meeting tonight so I gave the ones I'd done to her (along with some money to help with shipping)... I HATE having to fill out those stupid customs forms; I'm sure she'll do a much better job and have an easier time at it.

Ok, that's it.... I'm going to go do SOMETHING, just not sure what... maybe I'll rip out a few more stitches tonight while listening/watching another episode of oh.... that English murder series I'm watching but can't remember the name of.   That's also my plan for tomorrow, too... hope to get all the unstitching done before the weekend is over.

take care

ttyl

RIP on hold

I haven't posted for a couple of days because there really hasn't been anything to post about.  Night before last was the last time I spent ripping out stitches on the bovine quilt... and I'm still only about half way.  Yesterday was busy; had bills to pay, had to argue with AT&T AGAIN, get groceries and when all that was done, I had a few more loads of laundry to do.  And I even folded/hung up everything after it came out of the dryer AND took care of everything! 

I had a second experience that really is beginning to make me wonder if our home is 'haunted'.  I know it was a brand new home when we moved in, but still....  ok, the first weird thing was that back in Nov. our garbage disposal just stopped working - no warning, nothing....   We have an appliance warranty through our gas & electric provider so I called them to see if it included the g.d.... no, it didn't because I hadn't added it on - so, I added it on and figured I wait until after the holidays and call to have them come out to see if they could get it working ( I'd already tried the broom handle trick).  It was making noise but more like a stalled noise than the argh argh argh of a scrap hungry monster.

In the meantime, I've been turning it on 'testing' it... last month, the scrap hungry monster sounds returned and it's working great again.... I did nothing to it except test it maybe once or twice a month.

Ok, now the ice cube maker in our refrigerator quit working MANY years ago.... the fridge is 25 years old and I think the ice cube maker quit after about five years.... then it started up again about 5 years later - for a short time - then quit again.  Because it wasn't working, I took out all the removal parts so that I'd have a little more space for food.  We used to keep trays of ice in on the top shelf under the ice maker but then hubby went to drinking his colas from the can and I drink mine from the 16 oz bottle so quit the ice trays.  Then I found some silicone ice cube trays where the cubes were long and narrow and could slip into the opening of my pop bottles so I bought one. 

Then I found the square ice cube silicone trays and bought one which I now keep on the top shelf and use for my insulated cup or on the weekends when I'm in the mood for an adult beverage. 

Ok, so the other night I went to get ice cubes for my insulated cup and this is what I found in the freezer...

Inside those crudely drawn circles are machine  made ice cubes....

here are all of them in the sink... can't begin to imagine how dirty that water must have been after sitting in the hose for who knows how long.  Disgusting.

Now, hubby had told me that he had turned it off after it came back on the last time ( and we were hearing thunks with no idea where they were coming from).  Now, he says that he didn't turn it off because he wouldn't have the slightest idea HOW to turn it off.

Apparently, from reading the instructions on the front of the ice maker, if you move the bar (seen in the first pic) into the upward position, that should keep it from making ice cubes.  In my zeal to try to pack as much as I could into the little freezer so that I didn't have to try and get into the big freezer ( another story for another day maybe), I must have wedged that bar into the downward position and the ice maker took that as an order for ice cubes.

So, I think that solved the 'twilight zone' feeling on the ice maker.... but still doesn't explain the garbage disposal - and, as long as it keeps working, I'm fine with that.

Guild meeting tonight and I'm going, if only long enough to drop off a pattern for another member.  And it's back to ripping out more stitches on the bovine quilt.  Would really like to get it done so that I can take it to the guild meeting next week for 'show n tell'.

Ok, off to empty out the pockets of my winter coat so that I can toss it in the washer... it's way overdue for a good cleaning and it looks like winter might finally be over here... KNOCK ON WOOD!!

take care

ttyl

Midsomer Murders and RIP

Yeah, I'm quilting - well, to be more accurate I'm UNquilting.  After I finished the border on one side and part of the borders for top and bottom on the bovine quilt, I realized that I really didn't like the way I was quilting them and if I continued and finished them that way, I would no longer love the quilt.

So, for the past two days, I've been watching (more like listening) to Midsomer Murders on Netflix while I toil away at picking those stitches out.  The flower, leaf and stems aren't bad to do... it's all the itty bitty curls that are taking FOREVER.  Right now, I'm about 1/2 way done... and since dinner is done, I'll go back to it as soon as I put food away.

Tomorrow morning, it's off to get my toes done and then stop at Walmart to get a couple of cans of cat food to last Chewy until I actually go for groceries on Wed - Oh, and I've got to remember to pick up my script on Wed. too.  Don't let me forget, ok?  :)

Ok, back to the 'salt mines'.... I'll have to tell you about the pkg I got in the mail today - later.

TTYL

VERY short

I got Marie back from the 'spa' but haven't sewn anything yet.... and my magnaGlides arrived today so I did work with Mo'e on the bovine quilt.  One row done, two more to go.

And now that "Marie" is home, I've got my Gnome for the Holidays April block to do and binding & labels to put on two quilts - Oh! and I need to finish the top that's still hanging on the design wall.  I have more rows done than it shows in the pic, but I do still have blocks that need to be sewn into two rows and then the rows can be sewn together.  I also found two more tops that need batting & backing so that I can quilt them, too.

Ok, take care

TTYL

Short but not sweet

Not a lot to say... since I've run out of light gray magnaGlides, I won't be doing any more quilting until the ones I ordered over the weekend arrive - should be Thursday - Friday at the latest. 

I did get a call saying that Marie is ready to pick up - I'll be doing that after hubby's dr's appointment Wed. afternoon.  I guess I'd better get to cleaning up my sewing room so her space will be clean when she gets home.  I also have to fill out paper work for hubby's new doctor... this is sooo annoying - I don't think they even look at the papers; they just ask the same questions during the appointment. 

Ok, I'm off to do 'something'.

take care

TTYL

Another two step/one

First problem was doing something with this rude border that is waving at me..  Luckily, it dawned on me that I have a steamer that I've never used BUT I know where it is!!  I bought it a few years ago with the intention of using it to clean the kitchen and other places, but then hubby started having his health problems and then mine flared up again... you know how it goes.  

So, after kind of reading the directions, I set to using it... nothing at first - guess I didn't put enough water in it.  Pretty soon it was steaming up and I set to work trying to get this seam to submit to my will by first pinning and then running the steamer over it several times.

                                                                      IT WORKED!! 

 Still a LITTLE puffy, but nothing that I can't work with.  Next came trying to decide how I'm going to quilt the borders.  On one edge, I placed a scrap of solid black and another one of solid white and replaced my black top thread with light gray/silver and stitched... nope, the black bobbin thread made little black dots - that's not going to work.  Ok, try the light gray/ silver bobbin..  There was a little issue with it when I started stitching on the quilt... not sure what happened other than I did not start with a full bobbin like I was told to do when I first got Mo'e.  Once I cleared up the mess, and tried again, everything was fine and I was able to continue using up what was left on the bobbin.  I only have one full light gray so I wanted to use the partial up first.  I've ordered more, but it won't be here until Thursday at the earliest; more likely Friday.  I'm almost out of black, too so I'm kind of limited to how much I can work on this quilt until the new bobbins come.

Ok, so I thought I'd do a stem with flowers that kind of match the ones on the girl bovines' heads and toss some leaves in here and there... those I can do.  Then I got this silly idea that I want to make them 'pop' using dense quilting.  It went better than I thought it would - and quicker, thank goodness.

I was able to get about half of the border done before I ran out of bobbin thread and had to switch over to my last one.  I finished the border and then put half feathers in the corner stones - not perfect but I was having trouble getting Mo'e to go the way I wanted to go... he can be so stubborn at times.

And on that note, I've called it a night after using my iron to remove the red frixion pen marks....

Time to fix dinner... OH  before I forget... the weather was somewhat nice this afternoon... nice enough that Buddy laid out on the porch for about half an hour.

This didn't mean that "Daddy" didn't still have to take him for a walk so he could go potty... or eat grass because his stomach is upset.  

Ok, off to the kitchen....

take care

TTYL

Two steps forward and one step back

Or is it one step forward and two steps back?  That's kind of what it felt like today.  My step forward was finishing the border on the Chicken Buffet quilt.  I decided to try the wide cross hatch and it worked out pretty good - would have been a little easier if I had remembered to put extensions onto the sides since I messed up and cut the backing too narrow.  But the quilting is done and I'm happy with it...

 other than the problem on the back that I'm praying will go away SOON.

This is NOT a good pic ( the fabric is a deep black - just like on the front)... I'm not sure why it came out this way, but you can still see how white the stitching looks... and I used black thread... the only thing I can figure out is that the batting is coming through - bearding!!  that's the word!...

Ok, now for the step ( or two) backwards...  I loaded the backing for the next quilt - this one is the Bathing Bovines? ( my memory is getting so bad)... and it's another black, but not solid, it has white pin dots that I thought would go great with the checkerboard strips.  Realized once I saw it again that I don't need black batting for this one since the top has a LOT of white.  

Ok, got the backing & batting all set up... went to lay down the top so that I could baste across the top and it wouldn't lay flat... I've got waves despite the fact that I measured before cutting the borders... sigh.  So now, I've got to get my steam iron out and see if I can steam it into submission - tomorrow.

This one could be fun to do... I'm going to be using several different color threads - something I don't do very often - I usually feel safer using only one color.  That just won't work with this quilt top.

Just looked around... it looks like Buddy decided not to wait on me to go to bed... hope he's warming up MY side  lol.

Take care...

TTYL

Ok I've had some progress

Trying to remember where I left off... guess I should have scrolled back to see. 

Marie is at the 'spa' and I'm dearly missing her. 

This pink quilt is done ... just waiting for Marie to return home so we can make binding together.

This is what I did today... I quilted the Chicken Buffet quilt.  After spending quite a bit of time searching online for twin size Hobb's 80/20 in black, I realized it wasn't to be found.  I don't know why they don't make it, but they don't.  The smallest size they make is queen size and I already have two of those.  I wanted twin ( or smaller - like 60x60) for this Chicken Buffet quilt.  I didn't want to have to try and chop up a big piece of batting for this smaller quilt.  

I finally gave in and bought some 80/20 off white over at Walmart - and I may live to regret it.  The backing for the quilt is a solid black and I'm using black Glide thread top & bottom.  It looks like the batting is coming through the backing ... it may be just my eyes or it may look better once I get it off the frame and it relaxes a little.

It's all quilted except for the outer border....  I'm not sure how I want to quilt it... with red thread on top and black on bottom or red top & bottom... black top & bottom... I don't know.  I also don't know what pattern I want to do.  I've already done cute little feathers that kind of look like the chickens feathers in all the sashing so I don't want to do feathers again.

Anyone got any ideas?  I guess I'll be looking through my pattern books and my pinterest to see if I can come up with something inspiring.  

Guess that's it for tonight....

TTYL

Sigh Oh how I miss my Marie

I just dropped her off at the 'spa' yesterday and don't expect to see her again for at least a week.  Who knew I was going to miss that gal so much.  Maybe it's just the nasty weather that has me in such a funk; I know the sinus headache didn't help any.

I got a little big of organizing done.. and I do mean little... like I said, I had a sinus headache.  I kept seeing patterns that I've been wanting to work on but can't without Marie.  I could pull "Jan" out of the carrier, but that would mean having to switch table extensions and some other moving of 'stuff' and I just didn't feel like doing it - today, at least.  Maybe tomorrow will be better, although, from the weather report I've seen, I'm not counting on it.

Tonight, after dinner, I forced myself to go out and work with Mo'e for at least one row.  It went better than I thought it would and I continued on for a second row... that makes three done, and I think three more to go - maybe four.

And on that note, despite the fact that it's only 9:43 pm, Buddy and I are headed to bed.  Hopefully, in the morning I will wake up without a headache of any sort.

take care

TTYL

Monday after Easter -

Well, I didn't get ALL of the rows sewn ... two more to go.  I was just too tired last night; in fact, Buddy and I went to bed about 9:30.  I watched tv for about half an hour and then laid down & out I went.
Got up this morning and still didn't feel like sewing so I didn't.  Another thing I didn't do was clean my machine before taking it to the 'spa'.  Got kind of a 'lecture' from Jason because of all the lint built up.  I told him that I don't usually let it get that bad and that's the truth... I do TRY and keep it clean.  I was just in a rush trying to get tops sewn up  so that I could work on Mo'e while Marie is at the spa.  If I'm lucky, she'll be ready to come home around the 11th.  Jason was ordering parts today, so hopefully Janome will be prompt about shipping them out.

After dropping Marie off, we went to get groceries.  Which tired both hubby and I out.  Buddy was happy because he got to ride to Lansing with us and then 'guard' the car while we got groceries.  I told him he's not much of a guard dog since he was just sitting there quietly while people were loading groceries in to the car next to ours.

Finally got around to doing some quilting after dinner.

Definitely nothing all that fancy, but there's lots of texture.    I'm trying some new things ( the continuous curves) and using old stand bys (ribbon candy, which is becoming my 'go to'); it's far from perfect but someone is going to love it anyway.  Oh! that reminds me, I've got to find something for the binding.  Houston, we may have a problem.

This month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color(s) is/are  yellow/gold.  I haven't done anything yet.. figured it could wait til I get Marie back home.  I haven't done my fatcatpatterns.com BOM for this month either and I definitely will wait to do that one because only Marie has the double blanket stitch that I'm using on the BOM.

Oh! and I got a new ADORABLE baby elephant pattern yesterday.  I saw a quilt that someone had done using it and I googled trying to find it - well, I did, but only on pinterest and the link I found didn't go to the pattern.  I asked the quilter where she found it and she said she'd be glad to send it to me via email.  I'd show a pic but I'm not sure how to get it onto here... you'll just have to wait until I make a quilt with it - and be prepared for your heart to melt.  Then again, you might have already seen it... it's a baby elephant blowing heart 'bubbles'... It's called Esmeralda & Edison Elephant.... correction: SHE'S blowing heart bubbles - It looks like Edison is blowing water.... hey, as long as it isn't paisley, it works for me.

Ok, let me see... anything else?  umm  no, I don't think so.

Guess Buddy and I will head for bed and I'll read for awhile.

Take care

TTYL