WIP Wednesday. Yeah! I am in synch with WIP day!! When I started this quilt I really expected it to read maroon. It reads green....how did that happen? Oh well, I still love it! This is my Irish Chain center. I am going to see what I can do with the borders to pop the lavendar and maroon. This is an indoor pic so it doesnt show the true color. I will take an outdoor pic once I add the borders.

If you are interested go to my UFOs link and look at the pic of the two blocks that make up this quilt and see what color you thought it would read.

More dog stuff. More quilt stuff. I had to take the kids to the dentist yesterday for cleanings. DD has a cavity and DS needs more sealants. I didn't have any issues! Kids both need braces but they need to brush better before I make that investment. Time will tell on that front.

Because I was home early for dental appointments I decided to catch up other dogs on their annual vaccines. I took Pepper first since she developed a cough. I knew what was coming. Kennel cough. I was right. She is older and was given a stronger 1x a day antibiotic. She feels so bad and isn't eating. I think she will feel better by tomorrow. She has been cuddling up to me a lot since this all started. Usually dh is her favorite but I guess momma's love reaches all corners of the world including the doggy one. I also took our eldest since I did not want him to get sick and hoped to prevent illness. Of course he woke up not wanting to eat then vomited later in the day. By the time I got home he acted a little better. Took him to the vet. No temp, no cough so he got vaccines. He ate last night and a little this a.m. We are watching him.

I decided to take two more since the vet had cancellations on his book. Took Spencer and Sunny since they are both pretty easy to handle. Last time we took them they both had whip worms. The vet tested them for these worms again and yep they still have them. This didn't prevent vaccines so they are current and both have meds to take. Don't faint here but there are two more dogs to go. I thought about taking them up as well but was just too tired to even think about that. They are scheduled for Saturday a.m. So far I have 4 out of 5 dogs on meds with two more to go. Pray for wellness for these two.

DD helped me with all this dog transport so she and I ran to Starbucks for a pastry and coffee. Nice relaxing time with her. She is 12 and told me she enjoyed spending the time with me. It was nice to hear her say that. I have said those words to her before and hope she is sincere and not just saying that to make me happy.

On the quilting front. I sewed the 8 pinned strips into 4 sets. Then I sewed the 4 sets into 2 sets and have those 2 pinned together. I will sew them tonight and then pin and sew the 9th strip and will have a center! Pics will be posted tomorrow for the WIP Wednesday on Quilt Studio WEBRING. Again not the finishes I had hoped for but definitely great progress. It will take me a couple days to figure out what to do with borders so hope to have the top together by this weekend!

What a weekend! Both good and bad. I started the weekend off working away on my Irish chain quilt. I decided to finish all the cutting Friday night so that I could get up in the morning and finish pinning and sewing the blocks together. I woke up to a puppy that did not want to eat. I didn't mention that he has been coughing all week and had a snotty nose when we got him. We knew he probably had kennel cough but for some reason thought he had been treated. What we realized was they gave him the vaccine but no antibiotics. Oh well, what can you expect from the SPCA. They are trying to get these dogs adopted. I asked dh what he thought and he said yes call the vet. Of course the vet is booked so I described the issue and name dropped. We have been with this vet for 21 years and he has all new staff so they didn't know who I was. The vet said come now. 1/2 pound weight loss and 103 temperature. Vet gave him a shot of antibiotics and a weeks worth of pills and told us to hope it isn't Distemper. Great. Of course, now we have to worry about the rest of our crew being ill. The former baby has been hacking and gagging so we are sure she has it now too. Let me just say Augie acted somewhat better yesterday a.m. and by the night was quite active. He was up and attem and eating pretty well this morning so we are relieved.

Back to the quilt. I sewed off and on all day Saturday and managed to finish my blocks. I did have a few pieces that I had to still cut. Somehow I miscalculated. Typical! Sunday I got up and started pinning and sewing the blocks together. I now have 9 long strips sewn. I pinned 8 of them in pairs to sew and decided to sew just one together to see how it looks. I think it is coming along great! When the entire center is sewn I will show a pic. Hope that will be tonight!

Oh yes. Augie found his way into my sewing room yesterday and peed on my floor. He is banned from the room until he is older. I told the "official" quilting dog he is not to allow Augie back until Augie learned the proper quilting dog protocol!

I got my 15 in tonight. I have been so tired this week. I think it is all the mental work at the office writing peoples appraisals. I have 2 more to go. Will be glad to have those behind me.

When I finally got done milling around I sat and pinned block pieces together. I am at the point that I either have to cut or sew. I decided pinning was safest tonight since I was so tired. If I am tired again tomorrow then I will sew. I am working on my Irish Chain and have only made crib size before. This one is queen size and requires 99 blocks. I have half of the blocks done. Just need to keep plugging away. Should be able to get the top together this weekend then will top my 12 Days quilt. Once that is done I will have one project in the piecing stage and 8 in the quilting stage. Doesn't look like I will get all those finishes I had hoped for but I am going to get as far as I can on those I had hoped to finish.

Next month is the Dallas quilt show. I need to buy 4 backings and some vintage fabric to restore my 7 Sisters top. I plan to use my "Buy" week at the show so need to get some ideas of amounts for various quilts. Will make the call when I am there! But know at least I can buy my legal B's!

Puppy is doing great! He hangs all over my daughter and loves dh and I. He doesn't spend too much time with ds and ds' nose is a little bent about this. I told ds the pup is still getting adjusted and to just keep playing with him!

Stashbuster retreat took place this past weekend. What that means is you have a sew-in and leave the family to attend to themselves as though you are away at a retreat. I had some lofty goals to accomplish and was pleased with my progress. I did not get everything done but I know I am too aggressive on my goals.

I subcut my strips for my Irish Chain for the most part. One block set is completely pieced now with the exception of a single block. I have those pieces ready to stitch to complete that grouping. For the second block set (25 patch ugh!) I have a lot of the subcutting done and have pieces pinned together to start sewing. I will cut and sew throughout the week as the mood strikes me.

The 12 days top. Well, I thought about it. I had planned to use a green print for the sashing but would have to fussy cut it to make sure not to lop the trees off. I may use the red swirly fabric as the sashing. Will have to audition that one and decide. I don't want to lose the swirly effect either! Ok let go of the perfectionism!

I know this news will get out sooner or later. There is a new addition to the family. Augie was adopted from the SPCA Sunday. He and hubby bonded immediately. They were so cute playing together. He is an Australian Cattle Dog/Border Collie mix. He will fit in with all the others. He already has a pile of new toys and a warm spot in my daughters bed. He slept all night and no mess! That is great for a 2 month old. He feels right at home but the rest of the herd is bent out of shape right now. They will adjust when they figure out he is staying and that he is a fun, interactive toy! Pictures tonight!

I spent this past week getting my strips sets for my Floral Irish Chain sewn and pressed. They are done! I took a break and worked on a fleece blanket for my dd for her Valentines present. It was one of the Tinkerbell ones that were sold at Walmart, Hobby Lobby and other stores. I found one half price at Hobby Lobby and snatched it up since Tinkerbell was hard to find. She and I worked on it together to sew an inner border on the layers of fleece. I helped her trim the fleece then I started fringing it. I tried to show her how to do it but she was afraid she would ruin it. I finished it up the next night and she is thrilled!

Tonight and tomorrow I will be back to my Irish Chain subcutting the strips and sewing them into blocks. I may go ahead and put the 12 days top together since it should be pretty easy and I will then be able to find a backing and get it ready to baste.

Once I get the King Log Cabin back from being quilted I am going to bind it right away. At this time I should have 3 quilts ready to quilt and will get those quilted so that I can post 4 more finishes this month! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

My first finish of 2007! Yes. I finished the peacock today. I was sewing the binding down last night and the machine started acting a little funny but I persevered. I turned the last corner and ran out of purple thread. I don’t mean the bobbin. I was completely out! To add insult to injury I turned the quilt over and saw that my tension was a mess. I would have to re-sew everything I had just done. I was so mad. I went to bed and planned to run to the store in the morning to buy more.

As soon as I got home I sewed a test piece to make sure the tension was ok. When I had that adjusted I sewed the binding down. As I was coming to the end I found a piece where I didn’t enclose the edge properly the first time. I was able to easily fix that. I was so happy when the last stitch went in. I threw it in the washer then the dryer. As soon as it finished I hung it on the neighbor’s fence and took new pictures.

I hope you like it! It was quite an effort!

I am still here! I took my peacock quilt to work and trimmed it up so that I could bind it. I have a hard time doing this at home for my larger quilts. There has not been one more stitch this week though. I have spent my time planning this week. Working to figure out what I will work on next. I am aiming for 5 finishes this month. I think I can make it. I have 2 bindings to do. I have one top to sash the blocks for then layer baste and quilt. I have another top that is ready to baste and pin and then one ready to quilt. I would have to buy a backing for one of these. The last three are smallish and should go quickly.

I like to have several things to bind at once. I get my rhythm going and then can get through them quickly. I hand sew the mitered corners then quilt the binding down all around (I self bind).

If I meet this goal this month I will be half way through my list of UFOs. Wow! I do plan to finish them all this year, 10 in all. Have been impatient for a finish. They are drawing near!

Why Did My Peacock Quilt Become a UFO? I made this quilt because Donna Poster needed quilts to be models in her book. I wanted a quilt in a book. Shoot, who doesn't. I picked the colors and she approved them. Mind you that I was still fairly new to quilting. I had been using white thread for everything and this quilt was no different. Note the dark color of the quilt top in the picture. There are lots of setin points on this quilt and my white thread showed. Seams were pulling a little loose. I got the top done fairly easily but could not get it quilted in time. It is in her book but it is only basted. She never said anything about this. I am sure she was not pleased with me. Sorry Donna!

Before I started quilting it I spent time hand sewing some of the really bad set in points to try to improve them. Now I did start quilting this quilt. I was doing stitch in the ditch and it just killed me. When I went back and picked it out I was amazed at how much I had accomplished. I had to twist it this way and that and that was a lot of maneuvering. This time I am doing straight lines. I found two designs that would look good but preferred the one I settled on. It took a lot of hours to get done but I got it quilted.

Why did I stop? Wrong color thread, badly sewn set in points, really hard to quilt. When I decided to just finish it I even ran out of thread in the right color. You have got to be kidding me! I often wonder if this hobby is meant for me. Amazingly I found another small spool in the right color and completed the quilting.

I had planned to just stop with one row of quilting to go on the border. It was getting late. I had to go to bed since I had to go to work in the a.m. When I came to the planned stopping point I set my jaw and said "This is ridiculuous. Just finish!" So I did. Now to bind it and this baby exits UFOdom!

Coming down the home stretch! I quilted a lot last weekend on my peacock quilt and planned to finish it. I over did it and only completed the center. My shoulders ached from leaning over my machine so much. This weekend I planned to finish it and completed quilting the borders. Now to trim the batting and bind it. It is nice to see the quilt getting finished. I need to set less aggressive goals or I will burn myself out. This weekend was better though as I took more frequent breaks.

I will take a picture of the quilting and post it tomorrow. I am a straight line girl. I quilted this quilt on point using the squares as a guide and came out with a square in a square pattern. I then stitched in the ditch on the 2 narrow borders, down the center of the 2nd border and copied this whole pattern to the last border. To me, it gives a Frank Lloyd Wright stain glass feel. Very structural, architectural feeling. I love it. This one is mine and will grace my bed soon! You can find this quilt top in the link "My Pictures" in the UFO album. Enjoy!