Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The Weekend and NAG in the Brain Space

What is happening...
We had a great weekend. School is over and it is so nice to get graduation out of the way. My son's girlfriend graduated High School. Now they are both over 18 and out of school. Kind of a scary thing, but exciting at the same time. On Sunday we went on a 200 mile drive to were my family was camping and spent the day with them. It was windy and cool but it was great. We all came home with sun and wind burns.

Here is part of what our drive was like. Such beautiful clouds.

Here is the lake. It is CJ Strike Reservoir.

More clouds over the lake.

We say this on the way home. It was so bright and wonderful!

What I accomplished...
Because of the weekend I did not do any sewing. Today I finished the borders and quilted both of my Quilt for Kids quilts. They have been a nag in my brain. I have had them WAY to long. I feel bad but I have let myself off the hook on them. They will get done and mailed off then I will not ask for more until I know that my plate is cleaner and I can finish them right away. I will post pictures tomorrow. By the time I was done tonight it was to dark.
Sewing thought...Do you have "nag in the brain" projects. Things you know you need to finish but just don't. Maybe it is a project that you started and then put away. Maybe it is something you intended on finishing for Christmas but it is June the next year. Maybe this summer (or winter where ever you may be) you could finish that NAG and get it out of your brain space. I know that when these quilts are done I will be happier.
Sewing Goals...
I want to finish the Quilt for Kids quilts and get them off into the mail. I will see where I go from there. I might start on my Bee blocks. Have a great evening!!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Catching Up on Old Info

What is happening...
TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!
 I am so excited. I am going to go to town tomorrow to buy groceries. But before that I think
I will take my girls out to a movie. To start the summer off right.

What I accomplished...
This is the block I sent to Anorina for Block Swap Adventure.
It is a pattern out of the the new 100 Block magazine.

This is the hexie flower that I received from Sandy for the Month of June. I love it!!

For the group H2H that I am with, these are the fabrics that I have sent to my partner.
You can see what she has done with them already here.

She and I have agreed on more fabric to make a second blanket!! I am so excited.
She is on the ball and has already sent me my fabric. Here is her second batch she sent me.
I need to get hers gathered up and mail out tomorrow.

I worked on my Le Petite project. I did not get started on it until today. LOL!!
Why do I wait so long? Luckily I had these 2.5" squares from a give away
I won a while back so that really helped with the cutting part of it.

I decided to use muslin as my background fabric.

Here is my top finished. I am going to finish it next week. I love it. It is going on my coffee table.

Sewing thought...
Do you love swaps? I do! I have to try and not jump on every one that comes along.
I could get myself into a lot of trouble! I think next year I am going to do a few more
block swaps. I really like doing them. After this year I have more of an idea about what I want.

Sewing Goals...
Tomorrow will be filled with running around town. I might not make it to the machine.
But I am hoping over the weekend to hit the goals I have already listed. Have a great Friday!!


Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Cute Pincushion and Change of Plans

What is happening...My girls' last day of school is tomorrow. I am so excited. I love it when they are home. As soon as I could appreciate them I was able to view them as people and not little kids and I started to really enjoy them. (I hope that does not sound bad) I like spending time with them. Hanging out, playing games, watching movies, crafting, and laughing. I will miss them when they move on with their lives. I will be planning the summer with them next week. The things that we need to do in the yard and the fun trips we want to go on. We call it our Musketeer Meeting and we have been having them for about 5-6 years at the beginning of every summer. I can't wait!!

What I accomplished...
I have gotten my Quilted fabric Basket Swap gift shipped off. I can't wait to see if she likes it. I loved making it. I ad those three Snap Happy bags, some M&M's, and note book, and mints in a little tin.
I can't wait to get mine.

A while back I promised to make retromummy some blocks for Quilts for Queensland. I have made one using just scraps. I have used this pattern for a Block Swap I am in. I love the pattern. I will be making 11 more blocks out of other fabric and sending them all to her.

I have made a cute pincushion/bag for myself. I love the colors and the whimsy of it.
I have it by my sewing macing and keep my stuff in it. 
 There is a little pocket inside.
 Here it sits on the edge of the table. You can see my sewing machine in the back. LOL!!
 I added the black stitching using 6 strands of floss.

Sewing thought...
Are any of you members of quilt groups or guilds?
Have I told you about the little quilting group I have started up. We call ourselves
We meet once a month at a members house. We have been meeting since about September. We have 9 members including myself and my oldest daughter. We have a blog that I keep up to date (except for this month, I am late). We are doing a border quilt project were we swap our quilt top and the next person adds and new border then we swap again. We are having such fun. We have from beginner quilters up to seasoned quilters. I LOVE IT!!
Sewing Goals...
Just working on the same goals. I am going to break up my Designer Mystery BOM into four table toppers as Christmas gifts. I got that idea today from a friend. Great idea. I was not sure what I was going to do with a large Christmas quilt. I am hoping to get on them tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Sorry for the Absence!

What is happening...
I have been fighting that darn UTI. Nasty thing! Then weekend before last on the 14th my husband was home and we did about 10 hours worth of yard work. Of course with my RA it set me on
my back side for 5 days.
I HATE RA!!!
I have thought a lot about my blog during that time but just could not bring myself to blog. I have been reading and commenting but just took the time off. I will do that from time to time.

What I accomplished...
This is block 12 of the Designer Mystery BOM over at Fat Quarter Shop. I have started putting my top together. I almost have it done.

Here are all 12 blocks. What a great stack!!

Here are my scraps. Those are my 8 inch fabric scissors. I am so amazed at how many scraps I have. I have no idea what I am doing with them yet but it will be great I am sure!!

Here are my sashing, border and binding pieces all cut and ready.

Sewing thought...
How many books and magazines do you have about anything quilty? I have a ton. I just started a subscription to QuiltMaker magazine. I love it. Just about every time I go to the store if I have some money and I can I will buy a quilty magazine. I love buying books also. I have bought three books this last week with babysitting money. I have bought Scrap-Basket Sensations, Fresh Fabric Treats, & Three Times the Charm. I have gone through them and can't wait to make some fun quilts.

Sewing Goals...
I needed to change this because if I post at night then I want to be honest and just post my next sewing goals and have them be for any time. LOL!! I want to finish my Designer Mystery top. I also would like to finish my Quilts for Kids tops. ALMOST DONE!!

PS I just wanted to share this. My husband and I went on a motorcycle ride on Saturday. I rode up to The Owyhee Dam and saw The Glory Hole. It is an overflow for the reservoir. I thought you might like to see a few pictures. Have a good night!!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A Mass PIF Kinda Thing!

One of the blogs I follow is That Girl... That Quilt. I enjoy her blog so much. She has such wonderful ideas. One of the things that I have enjoyed so much about her blog is her series Quilting Without Obligation.
In it she talks about quilting for the love of quilting. You might enjoy it as well.

On Friday she asked everybody that would like to to sign up for a Pay-It-Forward. I am already signed up for one so I did not join in the fun. She had so many sign up that she has made a special PIF. I have borrowed her words for you:

"At the bottom of this post you can add your link. From the link list, you will make something for the person right after you and the last person will make something for the first person on the list. Make sense? In addition, you will still choose 2 others{could be other bloggers or even someone you know in real life} that you want to pay-it-forward to on your own."

So I have signed up! She will get a hold of me with the person that I send to and then I will pick two other people that I send to. I will have to work out some way to pick. I am not sure if I will pick bloggers or others in my life. I can't wait. If this is something you might be interesting in hop over and check it out.

UTI and Magazine Win

What is happening...
I laugh when I think about what is happening. I have a UTI and am on antibiotics. I had a migraine over night that is still hanging on. This is the second night in a row that I have been up before 4:30. Actually this morning I was up at 3:30am. Now as I sit here typing I have drank a ton of cranberry juice and have taken 4 Excedrin. This is not going to be a good day. Boy I hope tonight is better. On a much better note I had a GREAT Mother's Day. This year the kids took over and it turn out wonderful. They made me breakfast, scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits, and chocolate milk. Yummy!! Then they gave me two very sweet cards and a large bouquet of flowers. At Church we had a cute Primary Program with all the little ones singing songs. Then we had a Mother's Day Brunch. Great food and very sweet program. That evening we met up with my family and had pictures taken for my parent's 40 Wedding Anniversary which will be next Sunday. It is the first family group photo that we have ever taken professionally. I will post pictures later. It was great fun.

What I accomplished...
Like I said I have not done much in the last few day but I did get a bunch done last week. I finished my Birdie Stitches for May. I love these, they are so sweet!


I have added three snap bags to my Quilted Fabric Basket Swap. They are so cute. I will definitely be making more!




I have made my block for Let's Bee Together swap. I made a block for Mollie using the fabric she sent me. It was fun trying to make her fabric stretch into a block. I had to add some white, but luckily I had some of the exact white she sent. Now that I look at it like this I wish I had placed the green/purple rectangles so that the green aimed in different directions. Oh well.

Sewing thought...
Did you go check out Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Blog Tour? Well I did and I won a copy the very first day. I just received it yesterday. I love it. So many great blocks. I can't wait to try some out.
How many quilty magazines to you buy in a month? I try not to buy any because the internet has such a huge assortment of blocks and free patterns. But I love magazines. For me there is just something about sitting down with a great drink and flipping the pages. I also love the fact that if I decide to use something in the magazine I have a hard copy already. No going to the computer, wasting ink, and then having to store the pages. (Even though I love that too!)
Goals for the Day...
For the most part I have no quilty goals. I just am going to take it easy and see if I can't get well. If I feel up to it I would like to work on my Block Swap Adventure block.
Have a great day!!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

100 Blocks Blog Tour

I forgot to add this link. Go check out the 100 Blocks Volume 3 Magazine Blog Hop. I have had fun the last two days going around and seeing all of the blocks that have been made.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Weather and UFO's

What is happening...
Not much. Got a touch of a stomach something. I am moving slow. Tomorrow I will be heading back to the YMCA to walk. I miss it. It is hard to get up so early. Today we have had an interesting weather day. You know it is fun to see how fast the weather can change. First it was cool and nice. Then the wind started and has not stopped. About noon we had dark clouds overhead. They have not left either. No rain though! Just dark heavy clouds. Now the sun has peaked out from under the sun now that it is setting. So now we have dark heavy clouds, strong winds, and sun shine. How funny!


What I accomplished...
I have not done much. I have finished two more hexies, but I don't have pictures. I started working on my next Birdie Stitches BOM. Can I tell you how much I love doing them. I have been waiting for two weeks. I found out that I did not add my pictures to the flickr group of my last two months. I am surprised with how much I forget in a month. I will be done with the stitchery tonight or tomorrow.

 
Sewing thought...
I am not sure if I have posted this number before. A while back I went through all my stuff and packaged up my UFO's. I have taken pictures off all of them. I have 29! That is quilts needing backs, bom's that have blocks not finished, stitcheries in various stops, blocks that need finished. Oh my heck!! Maybe I needed to join one of those finishing group at the beginning of the year. LOL! Here are a few pictures. If you had to guess or maybe you even know for sure, how many UFO's do you have?

This one as you can see is my Mon Ami Schnibbles quilt top for our Le Petite for January. I have most of it cut out and some of it sewn together. I made myself a little bit more of a headache then I needed by use 2 1/2" strips instead of charm packs. Lots of math and fiddling and I just quit. LOL!

This as you can see is Butter Churn by This and That. It was our Le Petite for November. I have mine done I just need to sandwich it, quilt it, and bind it.

 This is a BOM fro Joann's from a few years back. I love the browns and blacks. I found about 12 blocks on clearance for $3.00 each. I also got two backing kits for $5.99 each on clearance. Great deal.

This was a little wall hanging I started in October last year for Halloween. I got most of it done. I think see is so cute waving through the plastic.

This is a Halloween table topper that a friend of mine made. I have most of it done.

 
Goals for the Day...
Well I will make goals for tomorrow. I want to finish my Birdie Stitches BOM. I want to make a few Snappy Bags for my Quilted Fabric Bag Swap partner to go with the bag. I bought a kit on Saturday that came with the measuring tape pieces. I will see if I can get to it. Then I would like to add some borders to my April Schnibble I just finished. Maybe if I am good I can even get a back figured out for it, LOL!! I doubt it but I can try. Good night ya'll!!