Muffys RR My first attempt at echo quilting.

New Years Eve Challenge I saw this challenge popping up across several blogs and decided to join. I have only 3 UFOs left to finish. I am also going to see if I can start and finish a few other quilts as well. Hope you will join us!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Kentucky I drove to Kentucky a few weekends ago. When I got home I started to notice a rattling noise in my bumper whenever I closed my back gate. I wondered what it could be and after about the third time I shut that door and heard that rattle it finally dawned on me.

2 years ago I bought a RAV4. My parents came down not too long after. Mom was in the back seat and I heard her say something to the effect of oops! She dropped a handful of coins and they went into the seat. When I lifted the seats and looked under them I could not find any coins. There is a space under the back for storage. I opened that and looked in there. Still no coins. I walked away and never thought about them again.

Then the rattle. I wondered if those coins somehow worked their way down into my bumper. I just didn't think it could be possible. One day I noticed pennies on the ground. Hmmmm... the next time I shut that back door.....no rattle. I think it was that constant vibration of the long road trip to KY. I told mom the story and she thought she dropped more than pennies. She pointed out that the others could have fallen out on the road. Mystery solved....perhaps...

Here is another RR I completed my step on this month. Amy don't look if you want to be surprised!

Corning Glass Works While my kids were in NY with my parents they had an opportunity to take a glass making class. DD made a bead using a torch and glass rods. DS made a flower using balls of glass, a metal rod and an oven. Here are their creations.




Click on the links above for more pics.

7 Sisters Update The binding is done! Yesterday I went to a Sit N' Sew at the local LQS and worked on the repairs that were needed to the top from the dog incident plus some poor sewing. Now that is done except for one little spot that I wanted to use a different color thread on. I can probably take care of that in five minutes. I really want to call this done but have decided I must quilt the setting triangles. I am going to work on this and rotate to other projects as I feel a little burnt out on it.

Did I mention that I had 5 round robins at my house? The first one had a due date of the 15th. All I had to do was baste it. I had that thing for over a month and just piddled away. I got that one done and in the mail on the 23rd. Shame on me! It is done though. I will hide a pic here later. The one I worked on the previous month is here and I did this and this. Tami and Nancy these are spoilers so don't look if you want to be surprised.

The next RR is one that I had already done my step on. One of the gals did three and I didn't want unfinished pieces to go back to her so I got another gal to agree to finish a seond one (she had the last step on one) and send me the third. I have the applique on there. I bound it Friday. Tonight I will add a hanging sleeve and a button. I will add a pic here tonight.

That leaves three pieces. Two have to be written on. Of course the one that I have to only write on I can't decide what to write. I have sent some suggestions off to the owner to see what she thinks. I really do hope that it will be going in the mail tomorrow! The second one I have to write on I have to quilt. I have some ideas but will have to develop them further. The third piece, quilting only, need to develop that plan.

I hope to get all these RR's on the road this week so I can get back to my UFOs. I have one big one to quilt by machine and hope the Labor Day weekend will give me the time to dedicate to that.

Check back for pics tonight!

Kentucky and Back! My kids were with their grandparents for a few weeks in New York. I tried to talk Dad into driving them down to Baltimore as I could get a cheap direct flight. He insisted that we drive and meet halfway. I was ok with this since I would get to see my folks again even if for only a short time. I will save you the drama.

I left on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and took DD's bff with me to help me stay awake for the drive. We stopped in West Memphis for the night then met with everyone around noon the next day in Franklin, KY. Everyone in my folks car was super crabby. Too much time together in close quarters I guess. We all ate lunch together and chatted for a few minutes afterwards. It was so early and I still felt fresh enough to drive so we decided to part company. I drove until I was almost in Little Rock. We stopped, had dinner, went swimming. I left the kids at the pool and showered and climbed into bed with my quilt to work on the binding. Do you know you can't sew with your eyes closed?

We all got up bright and early the next morning and drove home. Got there around 1:30 p.m. 1,400 miles round trip and approximately 22 hours of driving. It was a nice little trip and showed me I could make those long drives. I have been a little sore but not too bad.

Since getting home I have been working on my binding. I just turned the corner to work on the third side. Fell asleep in front of the t.v. trying to get that side at least half way. No go! But I will have this quilt bound by the weekend. I am very pleased at how it is turning out.

Decided and Done I turned the outer border into the binding. It is sewn on and just needs to be tacked down. I think it preserves the authenticity of the top. Thanks to all my consultants!

Decision Time I have the binding and border off now. It didn't take too long. I hand washed and pressed the border fabrric. I can tell why it was so wavy. Two sides are over 10" too long. I can't believe it so am going to remeasure again tomorrow. I have to find a place to lay it all out so I can be sure I am getting a good measurement.

It occurred to me that I could just use the border fabric as the binding instead of sewing the border back on. Thoughts? I am leaning toward putting the binding back on at this point but haven't actually started yet. It could be a real pain since the piece I have to attach it too is already quilted.

I am listening!

Minor Set Back I got home last night and managed to make the binding for my 7 Sisters. I even got it sewn on so I could start the hand work. As I was sewing it I thought the last border was just so unweildly. I thought I would be able to smooth it out but there are just so many tucks in it now. I am going to remove the binding and then the border. I need to remeasure, cut and reattach it. I just think of all the work that went into it and want it to look nice. I must say I am a little disappointed but this is the right thing to do.

Opinions Please. Does this fabric look ok for binding?

Another One Bites the Dust

Note how the details of the center were carried out into the applique borders. This one became a UFO because I was so busy finishing other UFOs. Not too bad as this was just started last year. Less than 1 year old.

Binding In Progress I have 3 of 4 sides bound for my 6" round robin. I decided to use black thread and it has been a total pain! The thread shreds easily. I started cutting it shorter so that it went through the fabric fewer times. This helped some. Not sure why I didn't just choose a different color. What are your experiences? Does black thread misbehave for you?

Pics of a finish tomorrow! Stay tuned.

Check My 7 Sisters Progress I have to piece in some batting as a result of the dog incident then I can finish quilting the last 8 inches. I am almost ready to bind! I hope it will be bound tomorrow! Woohoo!!

Update All the borders are done. Patched the batting in. I also made the binding for my 6" RR which is the next UFO I plan to finish. I hope to bind both of these tomorrow.

I Need an Intervention

Last year I was on "No Buy" on the Stashbuster yahoogroup. The premise is that you only buy needed purchases. The legal "B"s. Backing, borders, binding. Some stretched it a little further and started including background. I was very good while I was on this challenge. They allowed you a 1 week "free" period which I did take advantage of. I had a list and I shopped to it. Otherwise I bought nothing but legal purchases.

This year, after No Buy, I was pretty good about my purchases until I was introduced to the Golden D'Or. That is when I began to fall apart. Golden D'Or is a fabric outlet and they have all sorts of fabrics available. They have tables covered in flat folds of every variety and then there is the Quilters room. This room has nothing but 100% cotton in it.

First there were these purchases. Not all is pictured as I sent quite a good bit of yardage to a friend in Australia. There are some pieces in there targeted specifically to charity quilts. Yardage on bolts is 2.99 for cotton and .99 for flatfolds. The flatfolds are not marked so you have to just try your luck on content.

I told myself I wouldn't go there again until I used up my stash. But then a dreaded email was sent announcing a 30% off sale on everything. A couple of gals decided to make the run and asked if I needed anything. I thought ok maybe just those animal prints I saw. I'll take 1 yard of each. How many could there be? 5 or 6 maybe? There were 15 of them.

Conicidentally I went to meet my sewing group that weekend. The house we meet at is very close to the Golden D'Or. We had to end our sewing meeting early and one of the gals decided to go to Golden D'Or for the last day of the sale. I mentioned that when I tried to go in that direction before that I sort of got twisted around. My friend very generously told me the easy way to get there. I hopped in the car heading for home. When my car saw the exit it just happily drove to Golden D'Or (that's my story and I am sticking to it). Who did I see there? My sewing buddy. I shopped a bit more exuberantly this time. Afterall it was on sale right? I found some great flatfolds with beautiful textures.

So as you can see. I need an intervention. There have been several excursions to Walmart for some other purchases in between all this. I just need to stay out of the stores!

Unconditional Love

My daughter and our dog Augie are a perfect representation of unconditional love. We adopted Augie when he was about 3 months old. Right from the start she carried him everywhere and held him in every way imaginable. Many times we were shrieking to put him down before she dropped him. She would throw him over her shoulder either on the shoulder or hanging way over her back. On her hip, facing front or back. Held like a baby. Picked up right side up or upside down. It doesn't matter how she picks him up, he turns into a rag doll and let's her do whatever she wants to him. They are so close that our son is jealous of the relationship. He does come to our room to sleep most nights but if he is invited to sleep with her, that is where I find him in the morning.

So you see...I am Augie's grandma. Not his momma. She is his momma. And his momma is not here. She is at her grandma's. Augie is here moping and missing her. He doesn't understand where she is. We find him in our laps for love and attention. She calls and bemoans being away from him. Last night she called and begged for a new pic of him and I obliged. While loading that picture I found this one that I took just about 3 weeks ago. She is laying on her belly on a reclining lawn chair with her head towards the foot of the chair and he is sitting on her shoulder without a care in the world or concern that she might dump them both onto the floor. If this isn't love I don't know what is.

The Day Has Come

I had made a personal challenge to only work on my 7 Sisters UFO until I was in the top 10 of the UFO Challenge list on the stashbuster yahoogroup. That day is today. In a little over 2 months time I managed to quilt the blocks, setting triangles, 3 of 4 solid borders and 2 of 4 HST borders. This is a Queen size and my first hand quilting project. I think I have done a pretty good job of it. I estimate another 2 weeks of dedicated work before I can bind this quilt.

It is funny during this journey that my burning desire was to get to top 10 so I could work on something else. Now my burning desire is to get these borders quilted and this quilt bound! I will continue quilting on the top through this week and will then move onto another UFO this weekend as I need a finish to avoid becoming Queen.

July Accomplishments

• Arniepats round robin
• Tami's round robin
• Karrins round robin
• hand quilted through all the side setting triangles of my 7 Sisters and have two sides (2 inner borders) completely hand quilted

August Goals

• finish hand quilting 2 inner borders of 7 Sisters
• bind 7 Sisters
• bind the 6" round robin
• finish my step on 5 round robins at my house or coming to me and mail
• finish 3 totes and mail
• knit chemo caps and mail

Yes I know. A huge list. Remember I am kidless for a few weeks and hubby is gone next weekend so I can do whatever I want to! Yippee!!