OMGosh! You're not going to believe...

I was pretty sure I was going to need to have to add another strip of batting along the bottom of the quilt and I was ready to add it... but.....

 This is how much batting is left... no need to add.... the bottom two rows aren't completely done yet, but I basted the remainder of the border and then spray soaked with starch in hopes that some of the poofiness will shrink out.  If it's still poofy in the morning, I'll spray with starch again and steam it - that should do it. 

I probably won't get it done tomorrow since I have a pedi scheduled for early afternoon and I still have a bit of the kitchen to clean up a little more.  Not a big rush; I have nothing planned for Friday while I wait til afternoon to tell hubby that some of the kids are in town and want to meet up with us for dinner. hehehe....  and it can always wait until Monday - I have nothing planned for that day.

Next week, I should be able to get back to working on the Autumn BOM from Shabby Fabrics.  Can't remember if I blogged about it or not.... incase I didn't... 

 This is block four... pieces are cut out and glued onto the background but not stitched down yet.

This is block six ( block five has too many small pieces and I didn't feel like messing with them that day  Block six pieces have been traced onto freezer paper and ironed onto the fabrics, but that's as far as I've gotten with it; still need to cut out the pieces and glue them onto the background.

Once this quilt (wall hanging) is done, I have a Christmas one also from Shabby Fabrics that I need to do.

And sometime during doing all of this, I hope to find my half hexi template that is temporarily MIA.  Of course, by then, I'll have probably forgotten what I wanted it for lol.

Ordered a new book today ( sigh)  I really shouldn't have but it has such CUTE animal patterns - little foxes, penguins, frogs, I can't remember what else... I had originally wanted the book for the frog pattern but now that I've seen the foxes - that's the one I want to do now.

Ok, Buddy is whining - wanting my attention.

TTYL

Well, dag nabbit....

Here I went and got all excited when I finished the row with the worm in it... thinking it was the center row and that meant I only had three more rows to go.  Well, it's the center row, but there are EIGHT rows to this quilt not seven like I was thinking.  Alls well though... I kept plugging away and now have only two and a half rows left to quilt.

I took this pic yesterday before I did the middle row ( with worm on hook).  Didn't take any today... it's getting so if you've seen one row, you've seen them all; just different fish.

I never heard back from Lolly's via email so I called them early this afternoon; a very nice sounding young woman took some information ( like my name and phone number) and said that she would talk to someone and they would get back with me.  About an hour later, a nice sounding young man called and said that they found the error (and somehow figured out how much I'd been overcharged for even when I didn't tell him - or the woman I talked to).  He said they could write me a check and put it in the mail today or they could issue me a gift card.  I asked for the check, explaining that I don't know when I'll be down there again to use a gift card.  $22 and change - I can get more fabric with it.  YAY!  Actually, all I NEED is white, but if I get it at Walmart, this will be enough.

Of course, he just happened to call me as I'm pulling into the recycling center here in town... and I'm trying to give him info while I'm trying to find my place in line.  I had a trunkful of corrugated cardboard - and I'm not exaggerating!  One box was a Gateway box from the desktop computer that hubby bought me back in the early to mid 1990's.  I've been stashing broke down boxes for years - just incase - and I have used plenty, but some seem like they'll never get used and since we're not shipping Christmas gifts any more, it was time for them to go!  It cost us/me a little over $200 just for shipping (and three corrugated boxes, only one got used).

Hubby stood behind the car and put the boxes in the trunk as I handed them to him - he didn't think they were all going to fit, but they did.  I ended up keeping a couple - again, just incase - but I'm sure we'll be getting more deliveries of items in cardboard boxes so there's not much chance we'll NEED one that we sent to recycling.

Ok, guess that's it for tonight... better get to bed - KP will be calling me bright and early, I'm sure lol

TTYL

p.s.  I almost forgot... while cleaning out the boxes, I found the battery operated Christmas tree lights for the wall hangings that I'd been looking for!!  They were still in the box they were shipped in -- glad I checked for contents before tossing in the pile.

Slow and steady

First off this morning, I wanted to try this...http://busyascanbe.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/easy-fast-coasters.html?m.  Could I find my half hexi template from MSQC? Nooo, of course not; but I did find another one that apparently is smaller.  I made the coaster, but didn't need as many pieces as was required in the directions; I think I used one less.  It came out ok, although I'm sure it's smaller than it would have been if I had been able to find that other half hexi template.

Oh well...

The next thing was for me to get back to working on one of my BOM's from last year.  I'd started it and got through block 3 of 9.  Got all the pieces cut out and glued down onto the background for block 4.

Then, I traced the pieces for block 6 onto the freezer paper and fused the pieces onto the fabrics for the block.  I didn't do block 5 today because there are lots of smaller pieces and I didn't feel like messing with them - they can wait for another day.

This afternoon, after taking my nap ( did I ever mention how I LOVE my naps?) I got to working on the Caught Ya quilt that I loaded yesterday.  I was able to work for about two hours without my back 'freezing up'... went back and worked some more after dinner and I'm ok - tired but not hurting.  Let's hope I feel the same way in the morning.

The top two borders and two rows of fish are done.

the first fish I completed.

top two borders and sashing

this is the backing fabric that I bought on Saturday and that I'm still waiting to hear back from Lolly's about the overcharge.

I'm hoping to get at least two rows a day done between now and Thursday morning but if I don't, that's ok... I'll just take it to the next guild meeting :).

TTYL

Not very productive weekend

At least quilting wise.  Yesterday, hubby and I went to Shipshewana for lunch and to attend a performance by a gospel group that he really likes - this was an early birthday gift for him from me.  Since we arrived earlier than we needed to, I took him to The Mercantile, which is four floors of various shops.  We went into the first one we came upon and it was a music store - everything related to music, including jewelry, sheet music, small instruments and cds.  Hubby found some cds he was interested in and so he bought them.

 We walked a little further into the building and passed several shops that didn't peak either of our interests until we came up Lolly's quilt shop.  He sat down on a bench outside the shop and I went in and just looked around not intending to buy anything - until I found the clearance 'room'.. looked for fishing themed fabric but didn't see any that I liked.  I did find some gray with large white polka dots on it and they reminded me of the round bobbers so I took the bolt to the cutting table and asked for six yards.  Took it up to the register to pay for it and was distracted by a couple of things on the counter so didn't pay attention when I signed the receipt. BAD MOVE.  It kept 'bugging' me for the rest of the day until we got home and I could check the receipt in the bag - I was charged for NINE yards!

This afternoon, I took the fabric out of the bag and measured it (while videotaping) - six yards and four inches.  Since this is Sunday, I knew that Lolly's would be closed - sent an email to them anyway so that somebody should see it the first thing tomorrow morning, hopefully.

After doing that, I divided the six yards into three pieces and then stitched them together selvedge to selvedge and loaded it onto my mid-arm followed by batting and my fish lure top.  No quilting/sewing today, though.

Later this afternoon I made a run to the local American Legion where there was a fundraiser going on for a former bowling teammate who is being treated for lung cancer.  Hubby was worn out from yesterday so he didn't feel like going and I ended up just dropping in long enough to donate a quilt for the silent auction, make a cash donation and give her a hug and 'I hope you're doing ok'.  There will be time tomorrow night to work on the latest quilt.
Still having to get some more housecleaning done.  Hubby doesn't know it but all but one of our kids will be here this coming weekend for his birthday.  I don't plan on them coming here ( there's no room at the inn, ya know), but just incase, I want the house at least a little clean.  I think he believes that it's getting done because I had that shot in my back last week to kill the pain I've been having - and that's fine; let him believe that.

Guess that's it for this weekend.  Hopefully, tomorrow night I'll have SOMETHING to show... either a block I did or a pic of where I've started quilting my "Caught Ya!" quilt ( the one on the mid-arm aka 'Moe').

TTYL

p.s.  thought I'd share a pic of my great grandson and one of the great granddaughters enjoying the tent I made him for Christmas.

They're facing the wall with the tv so I'm going to assume they are watching a movie or something.

Yesterday....

I forgot to post last night; too many things going on ( like housework YUCK).

Early yesterday morning, I decided to do some 'playing' since hubby was still sleeping when I got up.  I've had the Elizabeth Hartman Lorna McMahon of https://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com pattern for a dog's head ( sorry, don't know the actual pattern name) for quite awhile now and I've set some brown fabrics aside along with a background fabric I thought might work.
The pattern comes in two sizes and reading over it, I decided that the smaller size was going to be too small of pieces for me to be working on that early in the morning ( before 8 am) and so went for the larger size.  If it gives the finished sizes, I didn't see them and I think I would have gone with the smaller size if I had.  This baby is HUGE. -  something like 12" x 18".  I know there are larger blocks out there, but this is one is still HUGE ( to me anyway).

It's cute and wasn't too hard to assemble just by looking at the pics.  I think I'll want to do more, but in the smaller size.  This one can be a pillow top to go with the smaller blocked quilt once I get it done.

I just noticed that you really can't see the pink inner ears on this fella; I really need to figure out a better way to take pics.

So, that was it sewing wise yesterday.  The rest of my time was spent doing laundry... washing, drying, folding - you know- the not so exciting stuff.  Oh, I also had to hang up clothes from previous washings that hadn't been worn or taken care of.  I ran out of hangers and I'm almost out of space - hubby may have to forfeit some of his side of the closet lol.

Since hubby and Chewy (the cat) woke me up wayyy too early this morning, I think I'm going to go take a nap for a couple of hours ( need my beauty sleep) then get back up and start in on some more of the dreadful housework.  Might get back to sewing room after dinner.

Hope everyone is staying warm - January thaw can't come soon enough for me.

ttyl

What does the fox say?

That's probably 'old school' by now, but it's the first thing I thought of when trying to think of a title for this post.
For the 2018 RSC ( Rainbow Scrap Challenge), I'm making Elizabeth Hartman's Fox quilt... Not exactly set on the size, but at least lap quilt size and MAYBE I'll make it twin size; we'll see as the year goes on and I discover what scraps I have.
This morning, I cut pieces for three of the foxes so that I'd have four for this month ( not counting the practice piece which may end up being the label).  This evening, I finished piecing them together after dinner.

 Hmm, they almost seem black, gray & white, don't they?  It must be my phone/camera... the blues are light but not THAT light.  The background IS gray ( I might have said sandy in my earlier post).  I'll have to try and take a better pic if I can.

Anyway, so I'm thumbing through an email from AQS about it's magazine and patterns in each issue... I see one that I'd seen before but didn't really think about too much - this time I want to do it.  I go to my 'stash' and start 'shopping' - picking fabrics that I thought could work instead of the ones called for in the pattern ( and that I didn't have yardage of).
Here's the pattern...

and here are the fabrics that I chose to use...

the yellow on the bottom is more of a golden color ( again I took the pic with my phone/camera)

The quilt itself is something like 40"x40" It's not just the quilt pattern that I like... it's a star in a star... nothing to really 'write home about', but I like the colors I've chosen for it and I want to try at least some of the quilting that the designer did.  

Tomorrow is back to doing more housework - which I'll have to keep working on until the weekend after this one :(.  That's about EIGHT days of housework -- YUCK YUCK YUCK.  Wish I could say that it won't take me that long, but to be honest, it probably will.... 

New year, New 'Stuff'

What little I did today was 'rehearsing'...  I have the fabrics and ruler for the Double Wide Dresden Plate block, but decided I'd take some scrap fabrics and test it out especially since I don't know what size I need to cut.  I watched Missouri Star Quilt Company's youtube video on it ( Beach Ball Dresden with Me and My Sister), but if they told what size they were cutting, I missed it.  They tell you all the directions are on the back of the label that comes wrapped around the ruler... yeah, for about a dozen different sizes.. from a 10" block up to a 20" block.  I know I don't want 20" blocks and after trying the dresden for the 10", I know I don't want that one either... so it's somewhere in between, I guess.  I just need to know so I make sure I have enough fabrics.

Next came a practice block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge organized by soscrappy.blogspot.com.  A different color or color combination each month for the year.  This year is my first time and it looks like she's pairing combinations and has blue paired with other colors three times.  This month it's light blue and white.

Anyway, I was trying to decide what I wanted to make ... was 'chatting' in our guild's FB group and fellow quilter and blogger, Katie (katiemaytoo.blogspot.com) trying to figure out what I could do... something 'clicked' and I thought of the Elizabeth Hartman Fox pattern that I had purchased sometime last year....so off I went to grab some more scrap fabrics and try it out - when I tried her ugly sweater blocks, they were horrible --- sleeves were longer than the body of the sweater.. I'm a lousy piecer sometimes, I guess.

Here are the pieces arranged like they should be... does it look like a fox? noooo...

but sew them together... and look what you get!

and it wasn't hard at all... only problem was the lower right hand corner - got the print going the wrong direction ( and I checked to make sure I had it right before sewing and trimming.. see what happens when I think lol).  It won't matter when it comes time to make the actual block that will go in the quilt because I'm using more of a tonal without direction, kind of sandy looking.  I went shopping in my 'stash' for yardage for this quilt - not using scraps for the background, only for the foxes.... found one that I like but when I measured it, there was only two yards and I need at least two and a half - so I quickly got online and tried to track it down.  It took a few minutes, but I'd ordered it from Connecting Threads and was able to find & order another yard and a half ( extra yard - just in case).

Since then, I've been trying to clean up/organize the quilting 'stuff' that has spilled from my sewing room out into the family room.  The only and one Christmas gift I bought our dog, Buddy' this year is MIA.  I'm pretty sure it was out here on the table in the family room, but I can't find it ( does this sound familiar to anyone/everyone who knows me?). Thankfully, our daughter in Texas sent him something for Christmas - it only lasted about an hour, but it was one of the best hours of his life lol.  I'm also sure that I bought myself a new wall calendar for 2018 but can I find it now that it's time to hang it? -- noooooo.

Ok, anyway, that's it for tonight... tomorrow I have to go to the hospital for a 'procedure' ( shot in my back) and probably won't be getting much of anything done... that's ok, there's always Wednesday and Thursday... Friday, we're going to Shipshewana for lunch and a concert by a gospel group that hubby likes ( it's an early birthday gift from me).  Next week, I'll be cleaning house because almost all of our kids will be coming 'home' ( back to Michigan at least) to celebrate hubby's 80th birthday.  No room for anyone to stay here, but they have that taken care of.