I got the birthday quilt all layered and pinned and ready for quilting!!! I even started quilting the center to see just how bad my stitches will be.

Yeah – pretty bad, I think they’re about 4 stitches to the inch, but I’m going with the thought that any quilting is better than no quilting.

So that is one work in progress.

Another work in progress (although not quilting related) is this:

I was asked to sew a pocket onto two mesh vests for our pastor. Right now he is having to wear a “Life Vest” defibrillator. The power pack needs to be in a pocket and he wanted some light weight vests for summer wear. So I am going to work on that today.

I also wanted to share the yard sale find I made last weekend:

Yes, this ancient artifact! I’m sure the people at the yard sale couldn’t believe that it would sell, but I’m tickled with it. It is a nice hefty iron that actually gets good and hot. Perfect for pressing quilt pieces! Ever since my old iron bit the dust, I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for a replacement. I have a modern iron and it works in a pinch, but it just doesn’t get as hot as I’d like and I have to apply a lot of pressure because it is so lightweight. When I spotted this beauty, I snatched it up right away – not that there was any danger that anyone else was going to buy it before I could get to it!! Apparently there weren’t any other quilters in need of an iron at the yard sale!

I’m going to be busy for the next few days, so I will probably not be posting from today until after Memorial Day. I have to take the car for a complimentary check and cleaning tomorrow. I imagine that will take up most of the day, since I’ll also stop for groceries before I come home. And Friday everybody and their uncle wants me to be somewhere helping them! First on the list is the other boss; one friend wants me to help her with a project she’s working on; I also need to be available to show the rental house to a prospective renter; DH wants me to be ready to leave for camping AND I’m supposed to help DS#2 with some paperwork before we go away!!!! I think some of these things are going to have to be rescheduled!!

Peace

This flimsy has been waiting a few years to be quilted, so I hope to get it layered today in preparation for that! I have convinced myself that the way to quilt this is with hand stitching.

Now, I am the first to admit that hand quilting is not high on my list of “love-to-do” things. I’ve done some hand quilting in my day on small projects – nothing that requires a frame or hoop – I just hold it scrunched up in one hand while quilting with the other. I’ve never been able to master the rocking stitch that other ladies use, even though they tell me that it is “So Easy!” And, some day in the future, no one is going to look at my hand quilted quilts and admire the tiny little 20-to-the-inch stitches! But I am going to hand quilt this quilt! It will be a good thing to work on in the evenings while watching an old movie.

And, yes I know, I’m starting a hand quilting project just before summer sets in and it’s going to be too hot to want to have a quilt on my lap. But I’m not going to think about that right now. After all, it still gets cool in the evenings and early mornings, so I can work on it then. And if it gets too hot to quilt, I’ll just move on to one of the other gazillion projects that don’t require holding a quilt over my lap!! And I don’t have a deadline for finishing this quilt. Of course, I’d like to finish it as soon as possible, but since it’s waited for a few years already, a few more months isn’t going to make that much difference! And this is definitely not going to become a gift for anyone else! (You all know how that happens, you plan on making something for yourself and then a gift giving occasion comes up and you decide that you’ll give the lovely quilt to someone else because you wouldn’t have time to make them a new one and besides, you can always make another one for yourself, right!?!) Well, that won’t happen with this one, since this is a VERY special quilt that isn’t going out of my sight!

I have to get going because those mower blades need to be picked up ASAP. And the house (Sigh) really should get cleaned up a little bit. And then I’m going to get this baby layered!

Peace

The only thing that may have changed is that I moved some blocks around to avoid having the same fabrics near to each other.

I didn’t even touch my sewing machine all weekend long! Boo-hoo!

Of course, I wasn’t at home to be able to touch my sewing machine!!

DH and DS#2 made a plan for the weekend. They included me in their plan as well as DS#3 and my DBIL. We were all going to spend the weekend at the cabin and clean up as much of the storm damage as possible. This was the damage that occurred when Hurricane Sandy passed through last fall. DH and sons had cleared the driveway right after the storm but there was still quite a lot of fallen limbs and trees on the sides of the drive. So, while the menfolk took care of cutting up fallen trees, chipping small brush, splitting firewood, etc. I was keeping an eye on two DGC and fixing food and drink to keep the work crew going.

Yippee!!!!

Okay, maybe I’d be a little sarcastic if I said I had a lot of fun, but I was very happy to see all the firewood stacked at the end of the weekend and the sides of the driveway all cleared up. And, of course, being able to play with the grandchildren is fun.

Now that I am back home, I am hoping to get a bunch of stuff done this week. Crazy as it sounds, I’d like to get some housework done. Not a lot, mind you, just enough to make me feel like the house shouldn’t be condemned!!! And I really want to get the log cabin quilt finished to the flimsy stage. Plus the other goals on my list for May are calling out to me and saying, “You’re never going to get me done!” and I can’t have them mocking me like that!!

I’m going to link up with Judy at Patchwork Times. You can see what other people have on their design walls by clicking HERE. And then I’m going to buckle down and get some things finished!!!!

Peace

I’m glad I don’t have to help!!

Peace

I’m glad I don’t have to help!!

Peace

I didn’t get anything done on it last night. But DH and I had a really nice time last night. We went to a very nice restaurant and enjoyed a delicious meal. DH told the hostess that we were celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary, so we received wonderful service. Then we spent the rest of the evening talking about “remember when” and then speculating on what we’ll do in the next 30 years.

Thanks to everyone that sent us “Happy Anniversary” wishes. It was so nice to know how much you care.

Click HERE to go to Freshly Pieced and see what else is in progress.

Peace

Today is the 30th anniversary of the marriage of DH and I!!! Can you imagine – I’ve put up with him for thirty years!?! Of course, he’s had to put up with me for the same amount of time!

Who is that skinny girl!?!

We don’t have any definite plans for a getaway, but we’ll be going out to dinner this evening. Maybe Friday we’ll hop in or on one of our vehicles and head out, but we’re going to wait to see about the weather.

Since we’re going out this evening, I guess I’m not going to make it to my quilt group meeting. AGAIN! I missed it last month for some silly reason and even though it’s not a silly reason this time, I’m still going to miss it. Bummer!

We’ve got a new member that I haven’t met yet and I was hoping to do that this month. I was also hoping to have my log cabin flimsy done today, so that I could take it to the meeting. Then I realized today was not going to work. I’ll HAVE to go to next month’s meeting no matter what!!!

It’s getting there but, obviously, it is not completely finished yet. This is almost one half of the quilt up on the design wall. The other half is all assembled. As soon as I get all these blocks finished and assembled, I’ll join the two halves. Maybe I’ll have it finished before the end of the week! I want to take it to a meeting to get some ideas for quilting it. There are so many seams in this thing; I am not sure how I should quilt it.

I’m still working VERY slowly on getting the studio cleaned up. It doesn’t help that I have so many projects that I’d rather sew. I don’t spend very much time cleaning and then I HAVE to start sewing on something!! But I am still keeping at it! One of the things that is so time consuming is getting my scraps under control. I try to spend a little time each day trimming them into usable sizes. I’m also thinking ahead and sorting out the strips that I will need for the Bonnie Hunter workshop in July. I decided on red as the main color for the “Blue Ridge Beauty” quilt that we will be working on. So any red and background scraps get cut down and set aside for that project.

Isn’t this going to be stunning in red!?!

Well, that’s about it for now. I need to take care of some things before DH comes home and we go out to celebrate.

Peace

Peace

I know I used 2.5 yards of fabric in my stash to make the border on my Bedford Beauty quilt. Hooray!!!

But then I did this:

Well, I simply HAD to replace some blues and browns in the stash because I had used up a lot of them when I made Dad’s quilt!

And, seriously, how could I pass up this fantastic print!?! Even though it’s not blue or brown, I had to have it.

So I only added six yards to the stash, which isn’t too bad considering how much more I could have added!

And then after working all day with my friend from our quilt group (we managed to get all the pieces cut for the Hospice quilt, Yay!!), she gifted me with this:

Well, I couldn’t say “NO” could I? And wouldn’t this be sweet made into a quilt for a little boy? Add another four yards to the stash.

“Sigh”

I’ve come up with ten reasons for why I really should use what I have.

1) It feels so good to use fabric that has been sitting in storage for such a long time.

2) When I bought new fabric it was because I loved it so much that I had to have it. I knew that it would be the perfect fabric to make the perfect project. But once I’ve let it sit in the stash for years, I can’t even remember why I bought it. I need to use the fabric right when I buy it so that it doesn’t get old and forgotten.

3) If it’s sitting in my stash, the fabric isn’t doing anything! No one can appreciate it. Once I use it up, it will go out into the world, where other people can appreciate it.

4) It will be environmentally friendly to use up what I have. I need to plan a project around fabric that I already have on hand.

5) I don’t want to be on an episode of “Hoarders”!!!!

6) Because I don’t want my DGC to throw away my stash after I’m gone. I’m not getting any younger and I’d hate to have all that fabric wasted!

7) Face it, I cannot use it faster that I bring it in (not at the rate I’m going now!) I just have to keep working at it so that it can be used.

8) Because I’ve spent more money on my stash than anything else in this house! So I better get some good use out of it!

9) Because it’s fun! Why should I worry about washing dishes or vacuuming carpets when I could be doing something fun! I built my stash so that I could make wonderful things with it – so I need to make wonderful things.

10) Once I use up fabric I get to buy more to replace what I used up! And this time I actually HAVE to buy it because I need it! And buying new fabric is so much fun!

I guess there is actually an eleventh reason – because if DH ever gets a clue about how much fabric costs he’ll flip out when he realizes what a fortune I have invested in my stash!!!

Okay, here’s the official report:

Fabric used this week: 2.5 yards
Fabric added this week: 10 yards
Fabric used YTD: 35 yards
Fabric added YTD: 72.25 yards
YTD total: 37.25 yards added

Click HERE to go over to Live a Colorful Life

Peace

They are still slow going. But I don’t feel like this anymore.

I took a deep breathe,

drank a cup of tea and read all the nice comments everyone sent my way. Thank you. It’s nice to know that you’re still hanging in there with me even when I get stressed and start whining.

It also helps that I was able to spend a good bit of time working on the blocks yesterday. 25 more blocks are finished and off the assembly line. And the remaining 75 had more logs added to them. I’m not sure that I’ll get the flimsy finished before Tuesday, but it will be close and I’m not going to stress myself out about it now!

I have a busy day planned today. One of the things that I will be doing is meeting with a lady in my quilt group. We are going to cut fabric for another raffle quilt. The quilt will be donated to the local Hospice organization for them to raffle off and raise money.

Head over to Freshly Pieced to see what everyone else is working on. Click HERE.
Peace