Sweetjessy's RR

The Following Are Actual Events.... No names have been changed as there are no innocent

Let's set the stage. This UFO obsessed person just got a UFO back from the quilter. Trying to decide what to concentrate on...a fast finish or longer term finish.

Me: You know I am in this UFO challenge where there are 100 women that all have to finish a UFO each quarter. As you finish your name moves to the bottom of the list. If your name bubbles up to the top of the list you have 1 week to finish something or you have to pay a fat quarter... You also have to have 1 finish per quarter but I already have that.

dh: okay....

Me: So I am trying to decide what to work on next. I have this big quilt to hand quilt and I wonder if I should just work on that and save the binding for a fast finish...

dh: (blank stare)

Me: What do you think?

dh: All this just over a fat quarter???

Me: Well....yeah....

He just doesn't get it. I went and consulted with my buddy Beth. She thinks I should machine the binding on and save the hand work if I get toward the top of the list. I like that woman! She gets it!!

Kindness of Others My family has been through a lot over the past few years. If you have been reading along you know the stories. Over this time I have experienced several random acts of kindness. One was a gift certificate to equilter from Sharon where I purchased the following:

The next was a kind offer to quilt a UFO for me. I did not act upon this at first but then later accepted the offer. In return I am donating a QOV to the quilter. I know this is dark but the quilting really shows up well that way. Thanks Alycia!

Quilt back

I am truly blessed by the kindness of these friends.

Did You Hear Something? Maybe it was the loud thud of me falling off the wagon. 21 yards later but I am happy. A birthday gift from hubby. 2 quilts and one tote are in plan for this yardage.

Arlington Quilt Show and Saturday Sew In

Pics of the booty I got at the quilt show.

Winnings from the Sew In. I met up with a group of gals from the Quilting with a Passion quilt forum. We played some games and I won some cute notepads and 18 FQs. It was a LOT of fun! Thanks ladies.

May Goals Here we are half way into May and I didn't list my goals. I am sure you know I am on a finishing frenzy. I have already finished two UFOs this month and have my sights set on the next one to finish. I will be working out the quilting plan on my Chain Events quilt and continue to work on the 7 Sisters. I really need to get some serious time in on the 7 Sisters or I am going to be caught as the Queen of UFOs with that one.

• quilt Chain Events by end of May
• get to half way point on quilting 7 Sisters
• move round robins along a little more quickly
• put final touches on ugly challenge tote bag

Another UFO Finished I started this Round Robin last year and it came home to me this year. I counted it as a UFO as it met the criteria of when it had been started, before January 1 of this year. I picked it up from the long armer Friday and sewed the binding on it the same day. I stitched on that binding every spare minute and put the last stitches in it this morning when I got up. This RR represents many firsts for me. First round robin, first time I had done the blanket stitch by hand, paper piecing, machine applique. I know many have bad experiences but I think this one turned out wonderfully. Many thanks to Teresa, Becky, Beth, Jane and Paulette for your work on this RR. I love it!

Friday Vacation Day I took the day off to attend a little quilt show in Arlington, TX where a friend had a few quilts hanging. It was a very small but nice show. It only took about 2 hours to see the quilts and all the vendors. So what is a girl to do when she has the rest of the day to kill? She finds more quilt shopping!

I went to a quilt store near the show. They had some things at the show that were on display but didn't have any inventory with them. I popped in to have a look around. They had a thimble I was looking for and then I picked up a few batik FQs and one other piece of fabric. I was also looking for some 30's fabrics. Someone had told me of another shop that had plenty. I got directions and drove over there. I walked in the store and my mouth fell open. Huge store with lots of inventory. Wide variety. I looked for a very long time in that store. I was easily there for over an hour. I found some 30's FQs and the yardage I needed to bind my 30's feedsack quilt.

Oh, did I mention that while I was at the quilt show I got my 30's round robin back from my friend who quilted it? As soon as I got home I threw a load in the washing machine along with my binding fabric. Before the night was out I had the binding made and machine sewn to the quilt. Now to hand stitch it down. My second finish in May...here we come!

Kids, dogs, husbands and quilts but not necessarily in that order.

My son was the recipient of his school's Lighthouse Award. It is meant for kids that serve as a "light" in their school. It was a nice ceremony. All faculty and staff are allowed to select a student. My son's school nurse chose him. Her reason was because of him coming out of his shell with her. They selected 3 students to give a speech from the 206 recipients. I cried over the first one that spoke. A victim of Katrina with a previously rough life. She had failed school twice and should be a Junior now but is taking classes to complete her Freshman and Sophmore year in one year. Very admirable. Her turnaround is amazing. The second speaker I had mixed feelings about. He was peer pressured into committing a crime and served 1.5 years in jail. He is a Junior and already has two kids. I am probably judging him a little too harshly. I won't say anymore. The third speaker...I could not believe. It was a former co-worker's granddaughter. She is a Junior now and I have known her since her grandmother took custody of her. I do not know her on a deeply personal level but have heard stories and spent some time with her on a few occassions. A very sweet girl. Her mother drank and used drugs while pregnant with this girl. It was such a struggle for her and her grandmother when she was an infant. She has struggled with learning issues but feels she has overcome them. An amazing child. I really like the purpose of the program and think it is good for building self esteem.

We got Spencer's medication yesterday. I gave him his first dose of B12 and antibiotic. Now for the healing to begin. I hope it works and he gets his weight and muscle tone back. He is such a sweetie.

My husband got his latest MELD score. He is now up to a 20. This means he is closer to get a Liver transplant. Of course it depends on who is ahead of him and what comes in as far as a match goes. He is trying to get his knee replacement back in but I am betting that won't happen anytime soon.

I finished!! I put the last stitches in my Double Irish Chain last night and put it right into the wash. When I left this a.m. it was drying. I will take pics when I get home tonight and put them in this post. A little longarm birdy told me I will have my 30's feedsack round robin back Friday. I will just have to bind it. Watch for another finish soon!

Update: I hate the last border....looks like I will be quilting on this some more....sigh....

I Promised Pictures Not what you might have expected but I added a new header on my blog. Those are all my UFOs that I have left. Do you think I should update it by removing the UFOs as they are finished?

I have about half of one side left to finish on my Irish Chain. My son won an award so we are going to the ceremony today. I am working from home so that I can get to school on time. I will be able to stitch on conference calls so I should have another UFO completed today.

Updates on Machine and Spencer I picked up my machine yesterday. I haven't sewn with it yet but plan to this weekend. While I was at the Janome dealer I got a lesson on the rolled hem foot and she showed me how to use a wing needle made for creating a hem stitch. I had never heard of one before. Fascinating. I bought the needle and will be playing with it this weekend.

We got a call from the vet yesterday. I think the news was pretty good. He has a lower intestine infection. He will be on antibiotics for 6 weeks and has to take a B12 shot once a week for 6 weeks. The antibiotic is called tylosin and is actually a horse medicine. The vet had to call the compound phramacy to have it made for a dog. We should have the meds in the next few days. I hope Spencer regains the weight and muscle quickly. I think he is starting to show weakness in his legs now.

On the UFO front...I have the third side of the quilt almost bound. Tonight I will turn that corner and be on my way to a finish. This will put me at the bottom of the Queens list for awhile on the Stashbuster UFO Challenge so I will be concentrating on my 7 Sisters. I need to start making progress on that quilt if I hope to get it done this year! I keep saying by end of June I will have all my UFOs done. I should say, except this one. If I am not careful this quilt is going to get me crowned.

When it Rains it Pours I had a project deadline of Saturday at midnight. I had been sewing every spare minute since Wednesday to meet it. That is the project I had all the cutting issues with. Well I was working steadily at it Saturday morning sewing pieces together after playing with the layout. Suddenly my 1 year old Janome won't catch the bobbin thread. I take her apart and clean her out. I can't see what is wrong but do see the thread getting caught. I got up and drove her immediately to my Janome dealer. They fiddled with her and said they thought the timing was off. How the heck did I do that? I didn't hit a pin. The only thing I can think of is I was working with batiks and they sometimes sew like steel. I probably should have changed the needle before that project started. Some of the intersections of seams were tough to get through. Hmmm.... They say I can pick her up today more than likely. Yippee!!

Luckily I had also bought a Jem Platinum as a class machine last year. It is also known as dd's machine. When I got back I set her up and went to sewing. I was pressing the piece when I noticed I had sewn the lining wrong side out. Sigh.... I had pinned so carefully too visualizing the piece so that when I turned it it would be right. The lining wasn't in that visualization. Darn! So I just pressed it well and went to take pics. Dead camera. My dd loves to play with my camera and had used up the battery. Luckily I have a rapid charger. I charged it up and snapped the pics. I finish with 4-5 hours to spare. Wish me luck! The piece is sitting on the cutting table waiting to be unlined so I can correct it and finish it properly! Pics after voting is over!

Along with the challenge piece I planned to sew the binding on my Irish Chain. It is a large queen size and I am halfway through. If my machine had not gone wonky I was going to start the quilting on my Chain Events. I think it was for the best that it did as I would not have progressed as far as I had on the UFO. I have decided to concentrate on the UFO and just get it done without thinking about other projects. I am creeping up the Queens list for the Stashbuster UFO Challenge and do not care to be crowned Queen.

That's all folks. Sorry to be so pictureless lately. I will try to get some pics in this week.

As the World Turns....or maybe the cookie crumbles... I know you all have been there done that on this. I have a deadline that I was allowed to slip 3 more days. I am doing a challenge and have to fussy cut the focus fabric and then cut my strips and subcuts from my other fabrics. I managed to fussy cut all my HSTs...only 36 of them. Then I took my background and proceeded to cut 36 HSTs from that as well.

My next step was to create a fussy little block that I call a square with wings. I was in my right mind and decided to make a test piece. I had seen several blog posts where people created a four patch and then they sliced through the middle of that. I thought perfect! That is just what I need. So I made the four patch and looked at it only to realize that wasn't exactly what I needed. So now here I am grumbling to myself...while also realizing....those 36 HSTs of my background....I didn't need those. Argh! I hope I don't run out of the background.

So, back to the drawing board. It turns out the focus fabric squares were the right size. I just needed to make the triangle a 1/4" larger so that they would form the seam allowance when I add it to my focus HST. I made another test piece and it turned out great! Then I sewed it to the focus HST. It looks really nice.

At this point I decide to make some notes of how many pieces of what I need to make, etc for my project. This always helps me jump in where I left off so I don't waste time milling about. When I got up this a.m. I decided to look at my plan and realized I had cut too many HSTs. At least it wasn't the other way around, too few. It also dawned on me to check those un-needed HSTs from my background to see if they would be the right size for my "wings" if I cut them in half. They are! Yeah! No waste!

I am back in the groove again. I just have to cut those background HSTs in half and then also cut 30 squares from my focus fabric. Sometimes when things don't seem to be going well....it's just a disguise!

It Arrived!! I picked dd up from school and she asked me if I had mailed her letter to Canada yet. I told her I had not and was going to go home and re-make my RR's and take all of it to the PO at the same time. I stopped at the computer to check my email and what do I see? An email from the lady I sent the 4 round robins too saying they had finally arrived. She said the envelope had looked as though it got stuck in a machine but the contents are fine. Now I have to go mail dd's letter!

Dog news.... My dear Spencer keeps getting thinner. When we got him he was around 50 pounds. I thought he was thin at that weight and sort of fattened him up to about 60 pounds. The vet said stop! So we dieted him back down to 50. Well, now the poor guy is down to 36 pounds. We had several bouts with girardia and whip worm. We think we finally conquered that and he actually gained a few pounds. But now he is losing again and he just does not look well. He is very boney. I took him to the vet Saturday for blood work. They called yesterday to tell me that he is not absorbing the nutrients from his food. He is basically starving to death. They had me bring him back for more tests this a.m. I asked the vet to toss around some possibilities of what could be going on. He said enzyme or vitamin deficiency. These can be addressed with food additivies. He also dropped the dreaded "C" word. He could have lymphoma of his digestive tract. Let's hope for one of the first two. Spencer is about 13 now and has had a very good life. He was our first rescue from STAAR. We sure hope to have him a few more years.

To end on a happy quilty note. I have the binding sewn onto my Irish Chain. Now I just have to hand tack it down to the back. I also re-basted a UFO that was a little too wrinkly on the back. I have the bobbins loaded and when I get tired of hand sewing my binding I will start quilting away on the next UFO. I have two RRs here at the house I need to work on. I am also working on my ugly challenge due tomorrow but plan to beg for an extension until Saturday. Hope they say yes!

Lost in the Mail For those having experience mailing things to Canada.

I sent a manilla envelope with 4 small round robins in it. Very flat package. They didn't have me fill out a customs slip for it. I mailed it on the 3rd of April. Still hasn't gotten there.

I sent a second manilla envelope with 3 round robins in it. A little bigger than the first set but still a very flat package. I mailed it on the 16th of April. It arrived on the 22nd.

I asked the intended recipient to call her post office to see if it was sitting there for some reason. I also asked her to see what our options are.

Input please. My two RRs are easy enough to replace. I think the other two gals could be as well.

Mark's New Ride

Wordless Week, Pictureless Too

Gee, where did this past week go? I am trying to figure out why I haven't blogged this past week. Let me see, there was preparing taxes. Getting packages together to be mailed. My package sent to Canada 2.5 weeks ago is missing in action. There was a wicked storm one night so I spent my time worrying over that. There was some time "thinking" about sewing. Then there was a very small amount of actual sewing. Saturday was filled with appointments and then car shopping for dh. You know that isn't a fast process.

So I have a little progress on my Irish Chain borders, quilted a little on my 7 Sisters and we have a new to us car. I will try to get together a more blog worthy, with pictures, post!

April Goals

My goals are pretty much the same as March. Once I quilted the center of my Irish Chain I didn't touch it again. I have two of my borders planned for the quilting but just did not do it. I made myself work on it tonight. I have to make 3 more rounds of the quilt then decide on that last border. I will finish it this month as I am 35th on the UFO Challenge list for Stashbuster.

My 7 Sisters is coming along. I finished two blocks this weekend. If I continue at that pace it will be done in no time. I do have to patch it again yet but decided to continue quilting the side away from that spot. I think I have 5 big blocks left on that side then several half blocks. Progress is good.

I have several RR's that will be traipsing through. I will turn them as fast as I can.

Round Robin Update I currently have 5 round robins in my possession. I had 3 ready to mail last night. But while working on one of them I discovered that someone had not added a seam allowance as needed. So I talked to the owner and I agreed to "fix" it so that future steps would not be confusing to others. I got creative and was able to figure out how to re-cut only one piece rather than two.


The fourth RR is due to mail by the 15th. I have the fabric washed and pressed, I have a plan. Now to cut and sew. I will get that done tonight in addition to fixing the other. Karrin, don't look if you want to be surprised.

Finally the fifth RR. Not sure there. I have to add an applique. I think I have to also add another row. When I get done with the other two and have them bundled up I will study this one some more. I have ideas just not sure of them at this point.

The eyes have it. My dd took this picture. I think she has good perspective.

Bash



That is what DD titled the picture of her Dad's truck. We are fortunate no one was seriously injured. DH has a pretty serious bruise on his left palm with swelling. No idea where that came from. A little sore and not much else.

Round Robin Round I made it to the machine last night. I hemmed 3 pairs of pants. No more in the near future!

I am participating in a Round Robin with some ladies that had a blog on the Quilt for Pleasure ring but that are now on the Quilting for Fun ring. I decided to ask another group of gals if they wanted to try this same RR. I have 10 that agreed and some of us are doing more than one. I had to combine a few steps as well.

Let me tell you, it is wild and wooley so far! We are just doing the step and mailing as we finish. I ended up with 4 in my posession at once (2 are mine) and I have a package of 4 more on the way. This contains the RR's of a gal that is doing 3. It is going so fast as a result. At this point we are building the base of the piece. Once we get to the more complex steps we plan to slow it down to allow more time for the applique and embellishment steps.

Here are my RR's.

Texas is the theme.....



Batik Garden is the theme......

Back in the Saddle Again....sort of.... I worked on my RR's...yeah! I only cut though, no sewing. I have to *cough, choke, sputter* hem more pants tonight so I will also sew on my RR's at that time as well and will get them into the mail.

I just got an email from mamacrafty that she has completed my RR. I am posting the pic here but go check out mamacrafty's blog too. I am SO spoiled and I know it!

I Haven't Been Feeling My Best Hence my long silence. I have been hand quilting on my 7 Sisters quilt. I hemmed three pairs of pants for my ds last night as well. First time at the machine for close to two weeks. I was hit with sinus and eye (both) infections which really slowed me down and even kept me out of work for a couple days. I have just felt blah.

Getting to the machine last night energized me a bit so I plan to get caught up on some RR's that I owe tonight. I might even work on the Irish Chain a little more. I decided I needed to finish that in the 2nd quarter of the year for my UFO challenge. :D Yes I am playing the game. I only have borders left to do.

Quilty pics coming soon!

Mamacrafty is at it again! She sent me the latest pic of my feedsack round robin. She has been letting me have just a tad too much input on this but I am glad! She is doing maker's choice on the last row. I can't wait to see what she does with it. I am mailing off a little more of my background to her so she can get it done!

I spent the weekend handquilting my 7 Sisters quilt. It has become addicting. Even though my goal is to complete my Irish Chain by the end of month I can't seem to put this one down. The damage the dogs did isn't too bad but I do keep seeing a little more. I don't think this quilt will be usable when it is done. It is very fragile. I keep asking myself if I should abandon it for this reason. For now I will forge on. I am getting the hang of hand quilting!

*********** Update: There does appear to be damage to the quilt and they actually did a nice job of trimming the batting. One block has two pieces shredded, some pulled stitches and one part of the pink has some right angle tears. Not sure how I will fix the latter. I will repair the block and when I get to quilting the pink I will decide how to fix it then.

HORRORS!!!! My 13 yo dd just called me to let me know the dogs had pulled my 7 Sisters quilt down from it's perch. I am at work and cannot get home for several more hours to see what the damage is. She did inform me the hoop is chewed through. I told her to put it up out of reach and I would take care of it when I got home.

I asked her if the quilt was damaged and she said yes. She said they pulled the batting out. OK that is fixable. I just said don't worry and hung up. I called her back and asked if they had gotten all the sewing do-dads and she said she got that before they did. So then I asked the question I was most afraid to ask. Are there any holes in the quilt. She said yes but tiny ones. My head is swimming at this point. She changed her answer and tried to describe to me what sounds like a run in the fabric. I don't know. You think my boss would agree this is a family emergency and I need to go home??

More later tonight when I see what is what. Those dang dogs.....I know I should have put it in a better place. That is probably why I am so mad...my fault!

This and That

I finished this RR last month and am mailing it today. Jan don't peek if you want to be surprised!

Here is the link to the goodies I bought at the Dallas show.

Drawing winners from Sunday's draw. I had three good sports share their UFO goals with me so I select them all as winners! Eva, mamacrafty and danielle, please send me your address so I can send you a little something!

Enjoy!

Dallas Quilt Show I went to the show Friday and Saturday. Had loads of fun and got to meet up with my friends. Boy did I shop too! I will be posting a pic of my goodies tonight. There are batiks and backings and patterns and notions! I found a great thimble that makes my hand quilting go a little smoother too. It's a w'nder thimble. Pretty neat! I have all the receipts in a little bag but don't dare total it.....should I??

More exciting news! My feedsack round robin is on it's way to Michigan as we speak. Mamacrafty is a quick gal so I hope to see it before the month is out. I have a quilting plan already decided so can't wait to get to it. I think I even have a good backing to use as well.

Stay tuned. I will have my goodie drawing tonight!

Snow Angels I grew up in central New York and there was an abundance of snow every winter. I moved to Texas in 1985 and they do have snow here but nothing like NY. I do have pictures of my dd as a toddler making a snow angel. I called my folks tonight and they told me they sent me an email that I would love. I just couldn't imagine what it could be. Here is the picture they sent....





Do you see it? Are you ready to meet the maker? Here he is sitting in the chair with my daughter. Are you surprised?

Today is Wednesday Do you know I haven't been to my machine at all since Sunday. I am sort of stuck on my Irish Chain. I have some ideas for the border but still trying to decide. I think I will quilt what I have already decided upon and then move on to the next UFO. To continue I have to re-baste or mark the quilt. This requires me to use a table that I can only setup outside. Which of course requires nice weather. Am I making excuses? I do have my 7 Sisters quilt that I am hand quilting to work on.

Of course this nagging little voice pops into my head when I think about moving on to another quilt and warns me about finishing things and why I have UFOs. HUSH little voice! I think I have been really good about finishing lately.

I have the Dallas quilt show to attend this weekend. I am going to make it a 2 day event and meet up with folks on both days. The plan is noon at the raffle quilt. Just call out swooze! I will answer :D. I have my shopping list all drawn up. It is sort of funny...I am not on the "No Buy" challenge but my desire to buy fabrics is rather tame at the moment. I do have two specific lines I am interested in plus I need a backing for an RR. Other than that...I feel like I have plenty.

How are you doing on your UFO goals? Tell me how many you have this year, how many you have completed this year and what your goal is for completing them. I will have to see if I can find a little something for a giveaway. Answer my question before Sunday 3/16 ends!

March Progress Here is a full picture of my Simple Simon that I finished, finished last weekend.



Here is my Floral Irish Chain. I have the center machine quilted. Yes that is a 1" grid and the quilt is a Queen size. I will be spending a few days deciding what to do with those borders. I usually stitch

in the ditch but will be a tad more original than that....but not much!

What I woke up to this a.m. This is minor compared to what people got just to the north of us. This is pretty good snow for the Dallas area but it didn't stay long. Nothing accumulated on the ground here. This is our 2nd snowfall this month already. They were predicting more tonight but I think that has moved out of the forecast.

Quilting Report.....2 bobbins down. I am now over a quarter of the way through the center portion of the top. I quilted for about 1.5 hours. I hope that I can have the center quilted by Sunday. I need to decide what to do on the borders. Normally I just stitch in the ditch. On my Peacock quilt I actually stitched down the middle of the wide border to echo the inner borders. I liked that look and may repeat it here. I will post a picture of the quilt later this week and see what you all think.

I decided to fill up 6 more bobbins since that is what I thought it would take to get the center quilted. I ran out of thread on the 5th one. Will have to head to the store to get another spool. I will also have to rebaste the borders as the quilting is smoothing things out and I have a little wave. Good to catch that now.

How are you doing on your UFO goals this year?

One Bobbin Down and 7 to go Ok I am maniacal about getting my UFOs done. I decided to quilt for about an hour on my Irish Chain last night. I ended up getting through one bobbin worth of thread. At this rate it looks like I have about 8 hours of work to get this quilted. One hour per bobbin. I am quilting on the diagonal about every 1 inch across. This is a queen size top and I was really questioning my quilting plan after that hour but will forge ahead. In the end I will be really pleased I know.

This is UFO number 4 for the year. I have another queen size to quilt by machine, another queen size that I am hand quilting and then 3 throw size that I plan to machine quilt. The order here is my current plan for finishing. I didn't plan to end with the smaller pieces but I think it will make me happy to get the big pieces out of the way first.

Meet Simon This is another antique top I bought back in the late 80's early 90's. I just finished quilting and binding it. It was sleeting out so will take a full size pic when it is nicer.

Reflection on February. Goals for March

My February goals were

• bind ninepatch on point
• bind baby FMQ practice piece
• finish next two RRBlogger rounds
• quilt and bind Simple Simon
• baste Floral Irish Chain
• baste 7 Sisters

I just finished Simple Simon. I am counting it as done per my goals. I completed everything. Yeah!!

March Goals:

• Quilt and bind Floral Irish Chain - bobbins are wound! Bobbin area is cleaned out. Needle is changed. I am ready to go!
• Continue hand quilting 7 Sisters

Wish me luck!

Hand Quilting Here is a sample of my work. I had made a small attempt at hand quilting about 14 years ago. But pulled those stitches out and machine quilted that piece.

Handwork Hi all. I am here and sewing away. I am hand quilting my 7 Sisters and have machine sewn my binding to my Simple Simon. I am now handsewing it to the back. That is taking forever! I am trying to just sit back and relax and enjoy the process. Once Simon is done I will be moving onto my Floral Irish Chain. Need to have some discipline and get these quilts done, done.

Ugly No More Remember that round robin I showed. The one where the color went a little astray? A friend of mine asked me to send it to her so she could improve upon it. Here it is! I am a lucky gal!

Busy, busy. Hello readers! How are you all? I am still here. I went to my friends house Saturday for our little quilting circle. It was just me and Tirane93 ...bad weather kept the rest away. I took my 7 Sisters with me to begin hand quilting. I made some pretty good progress. This is the first item I am hand quilting and am still trying to figure it out. Tirane93 loaned me two quilting hoops. I have tried three different hoops so far and no hoop at all. I have used the oval hoop the most so far. I am going to forge ahead with that one and really try to work it out. I am getting around 8-10 stitches per inch. Practice, practice, practice!

I had originally decided to machine sew the binding onto Simple Simon to take to my quilitng get together. After I read the right way to bind the diamond shape edge I decided to take my time with it and wait until I had a little more time. Last night I started machine basting around the outer edge. Then I can trim it a little and sew the binding on it. Then more trimming and hand work to come! Joy! How did I pile so much hand work up on myself? It's ok...I am watching my TV shows and getting my UFOs finished at the same time. Works for me!

The Quilting Gods Have Smiled Upon Me I have one item left from my February goals list. How did that happen? I have the binding made for Simon....now to just sew it on. I will probably do that so I can take him to my meeting with my English Street quilters this weekend.

So do I make a new list? Do I make something new? Hmmm.....

• Quilt and bind Floral Irish Chain
• Start hand quilting 7 Sisters

OK so I want these UFOs finished. These are both a queen size so I will be busy for awhile.

How are you doing on your goals for February?

Busy Weekend In spite of work I managed to get a lot done. I basted the two quilts on my February goal list using Sharon Schamber's technique. It was a little fiddly at first and I had to undo the first attempt but I learned alot. The first quilt took a long time but by the second I had it down. I will use this technique again. It does still take time to do.

The other quilty related items were shopping for thread, batting, and mailing off my RR to the next person. Plus I mailed the RR that I wasn't happy with to a friend to work on. She asked if she could try to fix it so I let her.

To finish my February goal list I have to bind the Simple Simon and add a row to another RR. Not too shabby.

Signing off....

DH Update He is active on the liver transplant list. Still, a long way to wait due to his position on the list.

I Have Been Tagged

I have been tagged by Nicole!

THE RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Here goes....

1) When I was a toddler my mother used to catch me eating cigarette butts out of the ashtray. Yes I know....gross....
2) I studied abroad in Neuchatel, Switzerland one college semester.
3) I met hubby while I was over there when we both "vacationed" at the Oktoberfest in Munich.
4) I was born in central NY but had extremely strong ties to the south thanks to my paternal grandparents. I was raised eating grits and other southern delicacies like fried fat back. Many people were very disappointed they couldn't get a rise out of me when they offered me grits and such and I knew what they were talking about and eagerly accepted their offer.
5) I have a little scar/mark on my left thumb that looks like a square root sign. If anyone asks I will try to photograph and post it here
6) I am 6' tall....half my height is legs. i.e. 36" inseam
7) I studied French because my name is French.

Now off to find 7 more people to tag....

Debi, my new friend in real life that I met through an online forum.
tirane93, my new friend in real life that I met through a round robin project and now enjoy quilty get togethers at her home.
Beth, my friend from quiltchat. We are also phone friends as well. Have not met her in person yet but hope to soon.
Tracey, a friend from chat. She has the most adorable little girl.
Saphirz, a neat lady I know from chat. I guess I need to get to know her better as I realize I don't know her real first name. Shame on me!
Bekky, a friend from chat. We have participated in swaps together. She does great work.
Sharon, another friend from chat. I stalk her blog regularly. Really admire her work.

Have fun ladies!

More February Progress I managed to get what I think I want to do to my Round Robin due the 15th of this month, done. I made my piece to add and will have to just sew it on. I wanted to get a few opinions first. I have one thumbs up so far so am going with it.

What's next.....

DH Update We went to the doc last week to see about him being listed on the transplant list. We will know more this Thursday. They took lots of blood tests. His blood sugar was over 600 so they ordered another test. He "forgot" to take his shot that a.m. This will probably keep him from being listed. They gave us his MELD score of 17. I asked questions about his chances of getting a liver at this level. Unless he gets to a 20 or higher he won't get a liver for a long time. Bottom line, he is going to have to get really sick before he gets a liver.

Stats for those that care. If you are a 23 you get a liver in about a week. 22 you get one in about 4-6 weeks. If someone comes in with liver cancer they automatically get a 22. She said there are "lots" of those. And so there it is.

I am fine. Just tired from the emotional roller coaster.

I'm a Quilting Machine Sunday I went into quilt my Simple Simon with the intent to get through a quarter of the quilt. In about 5 hours I got half way through. Last night I decided I would quilt for about an hour and stop. One and a half hours later I am more than 3/4's of the way through. I decided to forge on and a little over 2 hours last night and I am done! I can't believe it! This all on my Janome 6500.


Now I am looking at the picture trying to decide if I should quilt it edge to edge through the center of the white diamonds. What do you think?

Binding decision. You can see the navy blue backing I used. I am leaning toward a red binding. Was thinking a red check since there are so many checks already in the quilt. Let me know what you think!


One final note. My back and neck are protesting a little this a.m. Boy this quilting stuff is hard on a girl! :D

Super Quilting Weekend When I finished up my UFOs I pulled out the next UFO to work on. I felt that if it was out and ready to be worked on it would be more likely to happen. With that said...I managed to quilt half of my Simple Simon. I just jumped in before that inner voice stopped me. I am quilting through the middles of the diamonds which means the lines run diagonally. Before work this a.m. I refolded the quilt and layed it out so I can just pick up where I left off. Feels so good to be getting these done!

My friend Sharon asked me what the difference was between the small medium and large pictures when you uploaded. Here is the answer. Same picture in 3 different sizes.

small

medium

large

Two Finishes I completed my first goal for February. Two UFO finishes. The first is a peach and blue Ninepatch set on point. I bought this quilt top back in the late 80's or early 90's from an antique shop. It is about a twin size.



The second UFO is a panel that I bought to practice free motion quilting on.



These were both quilted last year. I just had to bind them. On to the next project!

January Accomplishments/February Goals

In January I completed:

• three RR's which finished my part for those swaps.
• repair on my 7 Sisters top.
• wrist warmers for dd and her friend.

It was an okay month for me.

February I hope to:

• bind ninepatch on point
• bind baby FMQ practice piece
• finish next two RRBlogger rounds
• quilt and bind Simple Simon
• baste Floral Irish Chain
• baste 7 Sisters

I think that is pretty doable. What are your plans?

Finished My Second Round Robin Committment And I am glad! I got two RRs at one time and here are the results. Hope you are happy ladies!

Round Robin Done Now I just have to wait for mine to come home. It is in Kansas then to Michigan and home. Here is my last round.

I Know This to Be True I have a naughty inner child that I struggle with. She makes me proctastinate. She tells me that what I want to do on my quilt is too hard and it won't be right so find something else to do, something better. I struggle with her and she wins and keeps me from working on things....but then I push her down and quiet her and go ahead and try. I succeed....until I try something new and the struggle begins again. How do I quiet her forever?

Stashbuster Retreat Weekend It was virtual retreat weekend. I went to meet with the English Street Quilters yesterday and took my 7 Sisters top. It had several spots that needed repair and I managed to get it all done. Now to baste it then quilt it.

Today I worked on the RR from my feedsack group. I am half way done. A few more hours and I will be done!

The applique plan



This is what I plan to add to the feedsack RR.



















Here is a shawl I am knitting on my Serenity loom.

Six Degrees of Separation Are you familiar with this theory? Someone sent an email to a yahoogroup asking if they could help them find 2 people by forwarding the information to everyone they knew. The thought being those people would then send that on until they ran into someone that knew someone that knew one of them. I accidentally happened upon a lost friend because of blogs. Can it happen again?

Do you know this person? I met her in Neuchatel Switzerland while I was going to school there in 1983. Her name is Beatrice Ruesch and she is Swiss-Indonesian. At the time her family was living in Engelberg Switzerland. If anyone knows her, or know someone who knows her please let me know.

I seem to be stuck I have plenty I want to do in my sewing room but I can't seem to get in there. I have been plopped on the couch in front of the TV. At least I picked up my knitting and have been working on that. I did work on my round robin row a bit in front of the tv but the next step requires ironing, gluing and fiddling. This is a new technique I have not done before. Is that what is really keeping me away from sewing? Fear of failing? I just need to get over it! Just Do It!! Thanks Nike.....

I had signed up to make 12 - 12", 9" and 6" churn dash blocks. My friend Beth helped me to see it was ok to drop out. Two thoughts behind this action were the pressure of a timeline looming when I had lots of other things I really needed to get done and the recent bad taste in my mouth with swaps. One of my WHIMMS is to make a multi size block quilt. This would have moved me toward that goal. Seriously....I need to get my UFOs going again.

DH Update We went to the doctor on Thursday the 10th. We met with the PA for the Infectious Disease doctor. They were very happy that he would be able to come off the IV antibiotics and asked us to come back today (14th) to remove the PIC line. They tried to get the doctor's permission to do it that day but it was his day off and they could not reach him.

As usual I had my list of questions. The nurse mentioned oral antibiotics. The red flags went up immediately. The hepatologist's goal is that he is totally off antibiotics. I asked about how long he would be on them. How they would know he was done. Etc. We were at a bit of a quandry and the nurse and PA left the room and came back several times. They had no good answers for us. They suggested we come in early Monday and catch the doctor and ask him.

So bright and early we got to the doctors office. He said there would be no oral antibiotics. He said everything looked good and they would tell the Hepatologist that dh is clear. So now we wait 2 weeks and he should be made active on the list. I got a little teary eyed at that point. Partially happiness, partially fear. Now comes the wait for that phone call. To come and get a liver. Fear of the unknown. We are not done.....

I Need Focus. I have goals set to finish UFOs. I had them set last year too. So what do I work on? Other peoples stuff. Let me explain. I am in a few Round Robins. Those are time bound and I have to get them done within so much time. Right now I have three others rounds at my house. I plan, design and belabor each one. I want them all to be nice. And this planning takes time. If I didn't have these to work on I feel I would be less distracted. I am in 3 swaps. Two will be done once these 3 pieces go out the door. The last one will end in December.

So I am feeling sort of stuck right now. I want to machine applique on an RR and use the blanket stitch. I am researching techniques to make sure it looks good...ie procrastinating. I have the stabilizer cut and just have to cut the fabric out. I bought a magazine Saturday that had just the article I needed. I figure if I spend a little time each night on it I can get over the hump on this one.

Why do I do this to myself?? LOL...

GASP That is what I heard when I took dh to the doc on 12/27. Actually I had stepped out to the public restroom as the doc's office did not have an RR. I was standing at the sink washing my hands, heard the door open, turned to see the clean lady backing out as fast as she can. I noticed she was looking at the sign to see which room she had entered. I said, don't worry I am a woman. She had her hand on her chest and was mumbling something about it being a long day, etc. I always chuckle at these events. Afterall I am 6' tall and I have very short hair. I am sure it didn't help that I was wearing my husbands fleece jacket either. Oh well...made me laugh.

While I am on this topic I will tell another story along the same lines. I was in Walmart buying groceries for the Holidays. I heard a woman say sir, sir, sir. She got louder and more demanding as she repeated herself. I am sure anyone would have looked. I turned and without missing a beat she asked me to get something off the top shelf for her and that everything she needed was always on the top shelf. She then said....you are a ma'am aren't you. I assured her that last time I checked, I was. Again, wearing dh's jacket. I either need to get a more feminine jacket and/or get a bow in my hair!

DH Update All the labs are heading in the right direction. His next appointment is this Thursday, the 10th. Antibiotics are scheduled to be done on the 14th. I just spoke to the doctors office and they are ordering an MRI/CAT scan (what is the difference?) to see if the infection is really gone. If it is then he is done. Have to wait two weeks to be made active on the liver transplant list. He is definitely making progress in the right direction. They said the scan can be read the same day it is taken so we will have a very quick answer once that is done.

Quilty content I have three RRs that I am working on. I have made the design for one and am cutting out the pieces. I chose a design for another one and have to look for the fabrics and sketch out my plan. The last one tbd.


Possibilities. In person the maroon is too dark. I like the all white as a replacement or a pieced white and maroon border. How would you piece it? With either of these I think the blue can stay.

Small Round Robin Came Home

I made a 6" center and mailed it around to three other ladies. Tell me what you think....honestly....

2007 What a year. I finished 4 UFOs but had lots of small projects that were started and finished along the way. I did add one UFO to my list this year. It is a baby panel that I practiced FMQ on. I will add binding to it and probably give it to my dd. Not sure why but she wants it. There are 2 RRs out floating about that will come back to me this year. When they do they will go on the UFO list which will put me at 9.

2008 My goal is to complete all 9 of those UFOs. I think I can make it. They are all at the quilting stage so just need to pick one and go to town on it. I am not officially "No Buy" this year but do plan to practice self restraint....as much as possible! :D

Non-quilty goals. I would like to get 10 more pounds off. In order to do this I will need to add excercise. So I will keep it simple...add exercise. Will see how that goes. My other goal is organization and anti-procrastination. When something needs to be done I will not put it off more than a week. On the organization front I am a FlyLady follower. I will complete her challenges that she issues each day and add several 15 minute decluttering sessions per week.

That's all for now. Happy New Year to you all. I wish you health and happiness.

What I Have Been Up To I have been on vacation since the afternoon of the 24th and go back the 2nd. I had lots of things planned and of course didn't get to all of them. I did sew though! Yeah! I have added a row to a round robin as you saw on a previous post.

I completed my part on two Round Robins from the old Quilting 4 Pleasure webring. You can see the pics here. If you want to be surprised Liza and Sharon then don't look!

I did blocks for a 12 days swap last year. I didn't get them all embroidered so asked the participants to send them back if they wanted me to finish. I completed DrBeth's and then I had also made 2 extras for some gals that were in a 12 day swap where all the participants didn't come through. Those just went off in the mail today. The pic doesn't have the writing norembroidery on it. I will see about taking another pic of the block.

Finally, I am adding a round to a feedsack RR I am in. I have makers choice and it is the last row. I have been doing a lot of searching and planning for this round. I have my plan and am executing. If I am lucky it will be done this week and off to the owner by Saturday.

Update on health at the Harris household. DS is fine. I am super watchful and nagging him to take shots. I guess this is how it has to be. DH is a little confused today. This is a side effect of the liver disease. He won't take the meds they gave him for this. I tried to push it on him...no go. Otherwise his health is fine and everything is going in the right direction healing and lab wise. Next doc visit on 1/10 then we wait to see if the infection is gone. Thanks for all your support this year. It has really meant a lot.

Christmas Sewing I finished this feedsack RR I am in. I have one more to complete in this swap and I am done done! Yeah! My addition was the blue stripe, the white stripe and the rail fence row. The guideline was 4" but I needed to add the blue and white to get it to the right size. I added 7" total.

I Sewed! I wrapped all the gifts. I decorated as much as I am going to this year. I have grocery shopped. So when all this was finished yesterday I went to the machine and I sewed. Of course I became quite interesting to dh as the calling of my name began soon after. Once he was settled I managed maybe an hour or so.

I am working on an RR for a friend from #quiltchat. Her RR is a gorgeous red, white and blue all in feedsacks. My addition is squares and rectangles. I added a 1" blue strip all around then a .5" white strip. I was going to add a checkerboard but have changed my mind to use 4" strips, alternated so they will have sort of a rail fence look to them. I will post a picure tonight. I hope to finish it today so I can move onto the next project.

Merry Christmas to all! Hope you have an enjoyable time with your family!

My Son Is Home He got home yesterday. Still very tired. He tried to talk me out of his going to school today. He really needs to get his makeup work so he can catch up over the 2 week break. He will live! This is a short day for them so he can get home extra early for a nap which I am sure he will need.

My vacation starts on the 25th through the 1st. I have big sewing/quilty plans but the obligations are already piling up. Oh well....such is life.

I have been blogging for one full year today! Happy Anniversary to me!! LOL! Not sure if or what I will do to mark this milestone. I think I should send one of my UFOs to each person that posts and let them finish them then mail back to me! No? Really? I will let you...honest! OK how about this? You send me fat quarters?? Still no?? Well had to try. Post and surprised! Evil grin inserted here.

I Don't Know If I Should Laugh or Cry My son and I spent all day in the ER yesterday. He has been a type 1 diabetic for 5 years now. Once in a great while he gets the idea that he is superman and thinks he doesn't need to take all his medicine. So he is now admitted. He is doing okay. I did cry in the ER when I was talking to Beth about what I needed to take care of but quickly pulled it together and got friends to pitch in. He will be in at least until tomorrow. So...

DH had his PICC line stuff changed out yesterday. He called me when I was at the ER and told me home healthcare did not take his blood for labs. I called the doctors office and said "I need you to manage this because I just don't have time to keep up with it all". They are "taking care of it".

Quilty things.....I thought about taking my Seven Sisters quilt with me to work on in the ER....does that count?? I am fine...really. Just need to get this all behind me...soon!

Zoe died yesterday. Her quilt did not arrive in time. She fell into a coma and then slipped away shortly afterwards. I offer another dear chatter in our room many gratitudes as she sent a quilt in the name of the room. She said Zoe knew we all loved her and that is what matters. While I know this is true I am still a little saddened that I didn't get the quilt to her in time. We will miss you dearly Zoe.

Love Quilt is Done and in the Mail! I vowed to bind that quilt last night and I did. My too tired too busy excuse started to wear on *my* nerves. So around midnight last night I put in the final stitch. I had to get this done. Poor Zoe's health continues to fail. I will be crushed if we lose her. I will be devastated if she doesn't get this quilt and we lose her. Again, prayers please for Zoe (Glenna is her real name) that she gets her much needed lung transplant. (The picture is cloudy because my camera was in my very cold car and the camera clouded up)

I have to share the tote bag was perfect! The quilt fit totally into the bag and worked as I had planned! VBG!!

Mark Update Got a call from the infectious disease doctors. They got the labs back (except one). They said things are looking good. His platelets are high (good) for him. 96 where they were 41 or less in the hospital (a normal person is over 150). Other labs look good. The one test that will tell if his infection is going away is not back yet but they can deduce from other tests that is probably is. Good news!

I am Here!!! I have been sewing a wee bit. I found a 3 hour long nap quite helpful and refreshing Saturday and didn't sew that day. Sunday I kicked it into gear and got a tote bag done. I also have the binding done to sew onto the love quilt. I have not sewn that on and I must! The poor dear is in the hospital again. Please send out your prayers and well wishes for zoe that she gets her much need lung transplant along with restoring her health so she can have the surgery. I will try to post a pic of the tote tonight.

Mark update. We went to the docs on Monday. First to the orthopedic. He took out the staples. Looked things over and asked how Mark was doing. Mark twisted it a little because he wasn't wearing his knee immobilizer. He gets what he gets. He prefers to take the risk since the immobilizer hurts too much. We see the ortho on the 27th for an x-ray to check healing progress. Things are as they expect at this moment. Then off to infectious disease doc. Again things are as they expect. They educated me a good bit. I asked about prevention of spread and reinfection. Keep the area clean and dry, keep the bedding clean and dry, wash, wash, wash those hands. We go back to them on the 27th as well. Mark had his first blood draw today so we should have some results to see if we are heading in the right direction.

Love Quilt Got a call from the quilter and the Love Quilt is ready to be picked up. She called me yesterday but I was just too tired for a road trip. I plan to leave work a little early so that I can get over there to get the quilt and then still run an errand. And darn it all! I just realized I forgot to bring my camera. She has more open space to put this quilt so that I can lay it out and take a pic. Oh well....when I lay it out to bind it (outside) I will take a pic then. Nothing else on the quilty front.

DH is managing well. He does wake up in the middle of the night with some pain. He needs to manage that a little better before bed. Physical therapy and home health have been by several times already. The home health nurse asked if DH needed her to come by and clean his room for him. Now I admit it is really cluttered in there but not dirty.... We are seeing the infectious disease doctors on Monday and I plan to ask what I need to do to ensure we do not pass this infection around or that we do not reinfect dh. From what I read so far it is just to keep things dry and clean. Today I woke up and felt a little tired but more rested than I have. This is a good thing.

Tuesday and he is home finally! I cannot believe it took until 6:00 p.m. tonight to get him home but here he is. We got dd's room all setup for him until he is a little more healed. He needs to not have dogs sleeping on his feet.

I had to drive across town to find a pharmacy that has one of his meds that our regular pharmacy doesn't. Luckily I found it at the first (second) place I went. Of course it won't be ready until 9:00 p.m. tonight. I want to go to bed.... Such is life.

No quilty news today...probably not until this weekend. I am trying to get the little loose ends taken care of for Christmas. Would love to be done by this weekend. Still have to decorate so I may get started on that as well.

Thanks for the continued support all.

Monday Update: I know people are coming here for an update so I better give one. Everyone at the hospital was talking about dh coming home today. His lab results are stable. They grew the cultures from his knee and have only identified Staph, luckily NOT the antibiotic resistant one. He has been taking antibiotics since the day of surgery and we will continue this at home with a weekly blood draw.

They are making progress towards his release. The docs have been by and signed off saying all is ok to go. They are waiting for the IV antibiotics to be arranged for home. Not sure how long that will take. I am standing by.

I will be glad when he is home so that I can eliminate all the road travel. I tried to get the house ready for him to come home but didnt quite finish. I will just have to keep at it until it is done. The main thing is eliminating trip and fall hazards. We have some tight spaces so I will have to move things to accomplish this.

Me? Well, quite frankly, I am exhausted. I wish I could just sleep for a couple days but I know what won't happen. I will have early bed if I can get the kids to cooperate.

I handed the love quilt over to the quilter. She said my backing wasn't square so she donated a new backing to me rather than use mine. Sigh....

I did manage to go to a quilters Christmas party with the DFW ladies from the Quilting Passion forum. It was a lot of fun. I brought my friend Amy. She and I were not prepared for the acitivities but several gals donated an ornament for our use and we bought FQs to play the bingo games. A fun time was had by all! I can't wait until next year and I will be ready.

I was talking to someone Saturday night and trying to tell them how I am feeling. I need to move on to that next project. I just feel sort of blah. A feeling of "let down" although I haven't had anyone "do" anything to me. I am sure being tired doesn't help. I know what I need to do next so I will at least pull out the pieces and try to make some small progress there. Hopefully that will get me in the groove again.

Hugs to all of you for your wonderful support!