Wednesday... Can you keep a secret?

I hope you can!!  Not that any of you know my husband ( well, except Katiemaytoo, but I trust her - I think lol).

Monday night, I started working on the first of three quilts that I hope to somehow have done by the end of this year - in time for them to be gifted on Jan. 5.

The gospel group that my husband and I have been 'following' around Michigan this past year are going to be in Shipshewana again on Jan. 4th and 5th and I'm planning on buying tickets for his birthday again  While we are there, I want to give each of the men a quilt.  They have brought so much joy to my husband and are always so kind and take the time to speak with him after the shows so I want to do something special for them.

Here's what I did Monday and Tuesday....

this is just a rough layout... just to get them up and an idea of how big and how to layout when all are finished.  I'm not 100% sold on that orange and blue one up in the corner... the orange is actually the back of the fabric... the front was way too bright.  I may take it apart and use another color instead of the orange... we'll see.  Not crazy about the two wide strips on the log cabin either... those may get cut down.

I did get a small one done today, but because it's small ( like the one with the yellow circle in the middle), I'm going to have to add sashing/borders to it so that it will match the rest in size.  No pic of it yet.

I was trying to do a paper piece church from quilterscache.com, but my printer was giving me fits... it printed one out of the three pages the correct size.  The small one from today and the yellow circle one also did not print out at the correct size either. but at least the two pages for each were the same size - not one at 1" and the other at 3/4".  

So, then I looked all over the internet for a pattern for a church - found two on craftsy but they were either too small or too large.  Found several on pinterest, but when I'd go to the page/site they were supposed to be on, they weren't there.  I finally went to my microsoft office publisher and did a search and found one that, when printed out, will work...  I'll just be appliqueing instead of paper piecing which is fine.  

This is another one that I want to try and make... it looks pretty easy. 

 I also want to do at least a couple cathedral window blocks, too.  

There wasn't much to blog about today.... it was kind of a ho hum day, even after I managed to get my new sewing room chair assembled and the old one into the dumpster and I spent a few minutes doing a little more organizing of the charity fabrics for the guild.  I was going to take them to the meeting tomorrow night, but I received a message today that they don't have a replacement for me yet and to not bring it until Jan.  I replied that I already know that I'm going to be busy in Jan and probably won't make it to any meetings - apparently, she ( guild prez) took that to mean that I was never coming back.  oh well..... whatever

take care

ttyl

Monday again

 I think I told you last Friday about our adventure down to Shipshewana not only to hear & see The Booth Brothers perform, but we left early so that I could have time to go to Lolly's in hopes of finding more of the fabric that I was using for this quilt.

 The pattern was for a baby size bowtie quilt but I wanted to make one bigger.  I had two yards of the 'newsprint' fabric but it wasn't going to be enough.  When we went back again on Friday afternoon, it was gone.  Since they were having a sale on fabrics in the 'clearance room', I shopped anyway ( of course)... didn't buy much... 4 yds of a lovely yellow tone on tone type, 3 yards of a green that I thought might work for this current project ( when I got home I realized that it wouldn't work) - oh, and then as I was paying for my purchase, I saw some printed fabrics and the saleslady was more than happy to show them to me.... they are printed with various themes... music and the Bible verses are the only two I remember... I bought three of the panels with the Bible verses.  I've had a project that's been rolling around between my two ears and when I saw these panels, I knew they would be perfect.

In my search for SOMETHING that I could use to help enlarge the quilt, I remembered that I had some 'newspaper print' on my fabric bolt shelf.  After checking to make sure that I had some of the same print in my bin with the fabrics for the dresden plate quilts I want to do, I grabbed the bolt and went to work....  by Saturday evening, I had the top finished.  Sunday, I took the remainder of the fat quarters I had cut into for the bow ties and cut them into two and a half inch strips and, along with three strips of the newspaper print off the bolt, stitched them together and pressed them for the binding - now I just need to find backing fabric.

, 

Sunday, I also put the border onto the lone Zebra that I made and made the binding for it, too... I think there's still enough of the purple fabric left so that I can layer it all with batting and quilt it.

Next up, was working on another 'new' project.  I had seen this on Sarah Craig's blog-http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/ and really REALLY liked it... 

This is how far I was when I called it a night...

Two more stars were done, but not up on the design wall.

Here it was this afternoon....

This is all sewn together, but it's not done - yet.  The pattern calls for 5" block borders and I'm running REALLY low on the squares from the charm packs I had so went and let my fingers do the shopping when I found more were available on Amazon ( they should be here between Nov. 2 and 7).

I'm still loving it... no backing or binding picked out for it yet, but will all those colors, it shouldn't be hard to find something. ( And, yes, I have to climb that ladder to get up to my design wall)

Then, I started playing with one of the fabric panels with Bible verses....

Here's what I have so far... 

Each block is 9.5"... not all will have verses... I want each one to be large lap quilt size and there's  1/2"not pieces to use a verse for each block.  The verse blocks themselves are 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" and 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" and I'm trying to only use what I have here in my stash.  I'm using scraps for the blocks and will use yardage for sashing ( if I need it).  There is no set pattern for these... I'm just going to 'play' - one block for one quilt at a time.  I have until Jan 5th, 2019 to get them finished.  Hardest part for me will be the quilting.

Off to watch my Monday night program... Long Lost Family.

Take care...

ttyl

afternote:  I went back and re-read this post today (11/16/18) and found a couple of typos... I'd fire my proofreader if it wasn't myself.  I have no idea what I meant by .....there's 1/2" not pieces to use a verse for each block.  Sorry about that.

Friday Friday

Oh my... do I ever have a story to tell you.... it's not a big story but it's still kind of funny.
Yesterday, we were going to leave for Shipshewana earlier than usual because I wanted to stop in to Lolly's to see if I could find some more of this fabric.... I bought it there so I was hoping that there would still be some.

We left just a few minutes after two... it's an hour and forty minute drive.  Beautiful weather and traffic wasn't bad.  We got about 25 miles from Shipsy when I realized that I had left our tickets to the concert at home on my desk.  I pulled over to see if I could find the email receipt on my phone and that I could just show that to whoever was taking tickets.  I found the email, but read the part that said that you needed to print out the tickets and bring them to the show..... soooo, we turned around and came back home.  

We made good time and got home about 4:30, which meant there was no way I was going to get into Lolly's since they close at 5:00.  Oh well, at least we'll get to see the show ( it didn't start until 7:30)...

We got back to Shipsy about 6:30... not bad considering we had to make a stop at Arby's here in town to grab something to eat on the way back to Shipsy... and then we had to stop for gas... and we hit a very confusing detour.

The show was worth it, though.... as always.  And I talked to staff at the venue about our driving back home to get the tickets I'd forgotten.  They told me that things like that happen on occasion and that they would have accepted seeing my receipt on my phone.

Ok, so yesterday's project went faster than I thought it would... here it is cut out in bits n pieces

 here I'm auditioning eyes and nose pieces...  I didn't like these - couldn't see them.

 and here it is with the top completed.  It's something like 45"x 45" and I'm pretty sure I know a little girl who will LOVE having it after I get it quilted and sent off to her.

Since I finished this faster than I thought I would, I started yet another top... that's why I need more of that fabric from Lolly's... the pattern is for a crib size but if  I can get more of the fabric,  I THINK I can get it up to roughly 60"x60".  It's a simple bow tie pattern, but the bow ties are from solid fqs that I already had and the print will be the background.

Sooo, now we're heading back to Shipsy just as soon as I finish this ( and get dressed!).  This time, Buddy gets to go with us - he'll be so excited.

Take care....

TTYL

Wednesday Wednesday

because Tuesday I was working on this....

 because the backing for it came in the mail yesterday (Tuesday).

  The fabric was a Trolls themed layer cake that I don't remember where it came from.  The pattern is Double slice layer cake by Missouri Star Quilt Co.; it's an easy pattern to do - but it would have been easier if there hadn't been up to FOUR of the same print.  Of course, there weren't four of every print - just one or two had four... most had two, I think.
 I only got as far as stitching the blocks into rows by last night so that was the first thing I did today... sew the rows together... after removing one block and repositioning it at the other end of the row - oh, and somehow I switched rows 6 & 7 ( they were labeled!!) and had to switch them back.  Of course, I didn't notice until I had stitched about half the row on.  :(

And, once the Trolls quilt top was done... it was on to this....

and this is all I'm saying about it ....you'll just have to wait til Friday to see what I'm working on.  Tomorrow evening, hubby and I will again be in Shipshewana at another Booth Brothers concert ( last one for this year for us).  We won't be leaving until about 4 so that should give me plenty of time to work on it -- and what I don't get done tomorrow can be done before blogging on Friday.

Guess that's it for tonight..

Going to go get my jammies on and start reading a new book....

take care... 

ttyl

Monday, Monday ......

Yesterday was a not much accomplished sort of day...  hubby and I had tickets to dinner theatre at the local senior center at 2 pm when I thought it was at 5 for some reason.  I did do some sewing before getting ready, but, trust me, it was very little.

I can't remember when I started this... it was sometime in the past week... I had some of the sashing strips done, but not as many as the pattern called for and, I think I mentioned that I had fused the dogs onto the background blocks, but didn't start putting it all together until yesterday morning.  I used two different fabrics for the dogs and, since it called for 12 dogs, I made six from each fabric... which lead to some confusion when it came time to put them up on the design wall prior to sewing them into rows... I was alternating so that there was two of one fabric and one of the other in each row .. but when I came to the last row, I couldn't do it without using the same fabric order as the row above it.  Today, I said "It is what it is - just get it done." Some of the cornerstone blocks didn't quite fit like they should have, but I think it's more the fault of the strips in between - again "It is what it is..."

So, here's the top finished... a nice little crib size for somebody... I just wanted to use up scraps and love doing cat and dog ( and sometimes chicken) quilts.

It's small enough that I'll probably be quilting it on my domestic machine as soon as I decide on a backing for it.

After I finished this, I started doing some more cleaning of scraps around my machine... you use up what you think is a LOT only to find there's still a LOT left... sigh.

Then, since it was close by, I thought I'd start working on the other paper pieced zebra.  Got the first pattern piece all folded on the lines and the first piece of fabric glued in place when I realized that I really don't want to do this one - that the first one was enough. 

I guess I didn't take a pic after I got this all sewn together... there is still a border to add if I want to, but I might just leave it like this and use the border fabric for a backing & make it a pillow. -- anyway, I took the fabric off from the paper, put the pattern back in the folder and took care of the white and black fabrics & emptied the plastic shoebox.  The pattern is in my file cabinet if I ever decide to do it after all, but I don't think I will;  I looked around for the pattern for the bag I've been making because I thought I'd use up the rest of the Kaffe Fassett charm squares to make another one - didn't find it yet, though.  Guess that means more cleaning lol

No dr appts tomorrow so it gives me another day to get SOMETHING done in my sewing room... maybe I can work on the cat quilt that I traced the pattern onto fusible for last Friday.  The hardest part is going to be getting the fusible onto a couple of the fabrics because the pieces are much larger than my ironing board... 

 I also marked sewing line for three panels on Saturday. I have three more matching panels for each one of them so that I can layer backing fabric, batting and four layers of the panels, sew on the lines, bind them and then cut them on the bias for 'chenille'.  Another project I can do on my domestic....

Speaking of which, I just might take that red Christmas tree

off from Mo'e and just quilt it on my domestic since it seems I can't stand for more than five minutes without pain.  It's getting really frustrating. 

Ok, I'm calling it a night here... it's only 8 pm but I want to watch Long Lost Family and if I go do something else in the meantime, I'll forget and miss it like I did last week.... soooooooo

take care
ttyl

Catch Up again

There's not a lot to tell about and no pics to share.  It was the guild's sew in at the library this weekend and I went both days.  I didn't sew, though... I was tracing and marking stitching lines....come to think of it, there is ONE pic.  It was the first project I worked on today...

The pic is a little fuzzy but you can get the idea, I think.  I have all the blocks embroidered... except for one.  I THOUGHT it was the top (BIGGEST one) but when I got supplies out last night to prep for today, I realized that I have the top one done... I only have to do the middle one.... so that's what I traced onto the fabric today - probably won't start working on it for awhile, though.  It's one of those projects that I don't want to leave the house for fear of  misplacing/losing it.  I'll take a few days this winter and find something on Netflix ( or facsimile) to watch (listen to) while I work on it.

Oh!  I almost forgot what I was working on Wed night and Thurs.  Again, no pics yet, but it's a Scottie Dog scrappy quilt.  I have all the scrappy block borders sewn onto phone book pages and some of the corner stones almost ready; the  dogs are fused onto the background but I haven't appliqued them down yet.  It's another of my "going to do someday - and someday is here" quilts.  Everything used is either from scraps or larger pieces left over from another project.  I don't have a backing in mind for it yet... maybe I'll make that scrappy, too.  Not a big rush on that since I can't stand at Mo'e long enough to do any quilting right now.

Ok, dinner is almost over and I'm itchin' to get into my sewing room and work on those Scotties.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have a pic or two to share :)

take care...

ttyl

I FOUND IT!!

The roll of scotch tape that I had transferred over to an office dispenser and then promptly 'lost'/ misplaced.  It was right on the table next to my sewing table that if I had stuck my left elbow over a couple of inches while facing my machine, I would have hit it.  BUT that's not the tape I was using last week - that one is now 'missing'.  It's such a silly thing, but I get so frustrated over not being able to find the tape when I want to - I used to have it all over the place, but haven't done that in recent years since we don't need it for wrapping birthday gifts or things like that.  Tomorrow, while we're doing our grocery shopping, I'm going over to the office supply section and buying a minimum of SIX tape dispensers and going to put at least one on the dining room table where hubby will see it when he does his puzzles, eats his meals, or takes his meds/tests his blood sugar.  Maybe I'll be able to keep track of that one!!

Ok, so you might be noticing that I'm not showing photos of whatever I've finished ( or at least been working on) for the past couple of days.  That would be because I have none to show.  This is the week for a couple of dr appts for hubby ( which blows my day) along with grocery shopping and bill paying tomorrow.

Yesterday was one dr appt - in Lansing at 11 am... I remembered to put charity quilts in the trunk of our car

so that we could drop them off after the appt.  Then we went to Applebee's by the mall for our lunch ( we had $70 in gift cards and I wanted to use some up).  I was a little leery about going since I've heard that they've changed their menus and I've heard the food isn't as good.  Hubby had a sandwich - turkey, ham and two cheeses along with french fries that he said was good and I ordered the chicken-broccoli alfredo dish which was really pretty good - and there was plenty of it - enough to bring home for my dinner last night.  I didn't care for the breadstick that came with it, but I didn't need the extra starch anyway.
Last night, I did tear the papers off the back of the Zebra 'block' ... I found a spot that I goofed on - not sure what I did, but it looks like the piece of fabric wasn't big enough for that particular spot...so I'll have to see how I can fix it before I go any further in finishing it.

Today, I pulled together the supplies I want to take with me to sew in this weekend.  I'm just taking freezer paper, a pattern to trace onto the freezer paper, the scotch tape, a pair of scissors and a sharpie marker.  It's a large pattern so it will take me awhile to do, but I'll also have plenty of time to gab with Barb and whoever else might show up.

I've been sitting here tonight waiting for a repairman to get here to re-light our hot water heater... he was supposed to be here before 11 PM... and call me twenty minutes before he's to arrive... it's now 10:30 and I've yet to hear anything from them.  Which means I'll have to call them back and try to get them out here first thing since hubby has another dr appt again tomorrow.

Ok, I'm going to bed...

take care
ttyl

YAY!!

I did it!!  I caught up with my BOMs ( well, the 'important ones anyway)...  Today, I worked on the Sept and Oct RSC blocks.. the first ones pictured are the dark blues for Sept - the ones I was telling you about yesterday... Y2000 print - and I still have some left (about a fat quarter, I'd guess).

 Then came the dark greens... I had to cut into a fat quarter for the solid green parts - I didn't see anything in my scrap bin that would work... the cheeks are scraps, though :).

And that was it for me today.  I was telling my friend, Katie, earlier today that I woke up about 3:15AM and couldn't get back to sleep for at least two hours....  in other words, I woke up tired this morning and really debated about taking a nap this afternoon.  I really wanted to get these foxes done, though, so, finally about 3 this afternoon, I started - and finished the first four about two hours later - just in time to fix dinner.  

After dinner, it was back into the sewing room and starting on the Oct. set - I think this set took about two hours also.  I was only going to work til 8:30 because I thought I'd like to watch the new Hallmark movie that was premiering tonight, but once I got started on the blocks, I decided I'll catch it another time - it's not like they only show them once and then they're gone.

Tomorrow, hubby has a dr appt in the afternoon... not sure what I'll be working on in the morning.  There's a pattern missing in my sewing room that I keep looking for but haven't found yet - maybe I'll see if I can finally find it.  Oh yeah, and I have to get the charity quilts into the car so that we can drop them off on the way back from the dr's office.

Hope you're feeling better tonight, Katie....

take care

ttyl

Six weeks later....

Maybe it's been longer than that, I didn't check... too long anyway.

 These are things that I've just done recently... I did do some projects in Sept but either I didn't take pics or I just didn't see them in my file.
 The Zebra was in a bin waiting to be done up so I grabbed my Kaffe Fassett charm pack (that I don't know why I bought) and went to town... liked it so much that I ordered two more of the charm packs so that I could do the other zebra and the second one because the price was so good that I couldn't say "no". 
I went downtown to my favorite lqs and found purple fabric that I'll use for the borders of the zebra blocks and, since I was there ... and had an extra charm pack, I bought two yards of the purple - one for the zebras and one for this bag lining and handles

Now, I just need to do the second zebra and get the borders on so that I can quilt them.

This past week I have been working at catching up with my BOMs.  Monday I finished a bear but either I didn't take a pic or I lost the pic... I THOUGHT I had taken a pic... oh well, ... here's the second one for this week....

 and here are the two that I did yesterday....  all caught up!!

Then it was on to my fatcatpatterns.com "Gnome for the Holidays" BOM to get caught up... only behind on the Sept one and hadn't started the Oct one yet either.   This first one is the Sept one

 and this is the Oct. one...

I was going to check to see how many blocks are left, but I forgot... it seems like there should only be the Nov. block so that those who were/are more ambitious than I am, can get it done in time for Christmas.

  

And, just to show that not everything was BOM catch up... this was another project that was 'aging' in a plastic tub...  It was a 'sew a long' from earlier in the year - I bought the fabrics but never got around to actually cutting fabrics and sewing until the end of Sept.  Pretty simple one to do... lots of practice doing 1/2 square triangles.

Tomorrow, I'll start catching up on my RSCs that I'm behind on... only two months to do --  laughing to myself right now because I chose fabrics for them just before fixing dinner tonight... I need a dark blue for one month - I found some Y2000 print!!  more than enough to do four foxes, I'm pretty sure....  just have to chuckle at the idea of some of my foxes with the year 2000 stamped on their faces lol.

The other month needs a dark green... I managed to find some I think I'll be happy with.

Get the foxes done and then maybe I'll feel up to tackling that Christmas quilt that was more than half quilted when I realized there was a major tension issue going on underneath and I decided to stop, pull out the stitches and start over again.  The stitching has been out for about three weeks, but I haven't felt up to standing at Mo'e and trying to adjust his tension.

Ok, that's it for me tonight... 

ttyl