And the Winners Are.....



I picked Leah S who wrote:

"My stashbusting plans are to fold up my fabric neatly, and to make more simple quilts.By folding up all the fabric I own into a uniform size, it'll give me a sense of order, knowledge of what exactly I own, and make it easier to be organized. My personal goal is to have all my fabric folded by the time I move next May.By encouraging myself to do more simple quilts, I'll be able to feel like I'm actually accomplishing stuff, opposed to just adding another quilt to the UFO pile. Stuff with big blocks, easy to cut pieces and flexible patterns can bust out several yards. They'll also make great quick gifts when the occasions arise. "

And the winner of the draw is Lorene who does not have a blog. Congratulations ladies. I will email you for your snail mail address. You will each get an "Easy Quilts" magazine winter issue and a choice of one of the books.

Thanks for playing everyone.

Another Houston Story

Do you know that I speak French? I studied for 8 years and went to college for one semester in Neuchatel, Switzerland. My courses were all taught in French. That was the last year that I formally studied French (1983). To this day I will string sentences together in French to keep the practice and try to remember my vocabulary. I am always listening for folks with a French accent or that are speaking in French when I am in a public place. Depending on the moment I may attempt to use my French.

While in Houston I was standing in line waiting to pay for a few paper pieced patterns. I overheard the lady in line behind me speaking to the store owner and detected that French accent. When they finished their conversation I started making small talk about the show which led to my revelation that I spoke French at which point I began speaking to her in French. She complimented me on my French and my accent which only encouraged me to continue on. Another wonderful moment for me in Houston. I had two other opportunities but my nerve was lacking.

A Prize

I won a prize from this giveaway. It is a basket filled with lots of goodies that she also shared with her retreat friends. There are fabrics, pieces of wool, patterns, tea light and holder, candles, lotion and several baggies of Halloween treats including fudge, candy and tea bags. This was all contained inside a lovely basket.

Thanks for my prize Sandi. I love it!

Houston Haul



From back to front, left to right. Needlecase pattern, zip bind tools and dvd, 3 1/2 yard cuts of Lorelei dogs. One is a panel the other two are all over dog patterns. My fabric eraser and needs from Bohin, 2 paper piece patterns (4 designs in all) with a small fabric bundle to make the designs, 31 FQs from the Fresh Squeezed line, 9 FQs (the psychedelic cow will be used to make the needle case), and 5 1 yard cuts of batiks.

Story from Houston In quiltchat I call Irene (jemo) momma and her daughter Shirley (doddlingdora) sis. When we met we hit it off right away. I was hugging on them and sat next to Irene the most so hugged her the most. The first day we shopped all afternoon together. The next day we got together at lunch and someone made the comment that Shirley said I stole her mom and that she was jealous. Later we were shopping and I lost track of them. Irene saw me looking and started to wave. Shirley said to her, "You HAD to wave at her didn't ya!". I thought it was pretty funny. I chatted with them last night and Shirley called me a mommy stealer. LOL! Don't worry Shirley. I love Irene but I got my own Mommy :).

Houston Highlights

I rode to Houston with a friend on Thursday. The trip was uneventful which is a good thing. Sometimes you worry whether you will be comfortable with another persons driving but there was absolutely no issue there. I didn't even think there would in this case as I trust her on so many other fronts.

We arrived at our hotel around 9 p.m. We stayed at the Embassy Suites and what a find to see there was a pair of live swans that lived in the fountain in the hotel lobby. I meant to get a picture but did not. We joked that they had their own pool boy as we watched a hotel employee scrub their fountain in the morning.

We were offered free board to stay with a friend, Leann that I know from quiltchat. Her hubby had points and got the room for free for her. We also had another quiltchat friend, Robyn, that came over from Victoria Australia that stayed in the room. In fact Leann moved over to stay with her hubby who was also in Houston on business. We had two double beds and a pull out couch at our disposal. Very nice accomodations although tirane found the couch too hard and opted to sleep on the floor in her sleeping bag.

Friday a.m. we were up and at the show in pleny of time for the doors to open. I chose to start in the quilts and at the very far right. This was the Hoffman challenge. There were many pretty quilts there. In fact I will load them to my picture site and post the link in another post. I chose to share this quilt you for one reason only. This lady is from my home town. I am always happy to see those connections. I don't know her but am still proud of her. In fact I said something outloud and a lady said "Oh I am from Syracuse" which is just 30 minutes north. I walked over and shook her hand and said nice to meet you. That moment made me smile.




I spent the first two hours of the show looking at as many quilts as I could. At noon I headed over to the cafeteria area to meet my friends from quiltchat. This picture is actually from the second day but shows everyone that I eventually met.




Back row: Me (swooze), Sharon (purplefiend), Ellen (scooter), Pat (Chutem), Leann (skipper)
Front row: Lorraine (Lorraine), Irene (Jemo), Shirley (doddlingdora), Robyn (romika)

I had met Sharon, Ellen and Leann before. So it was fun for me to meet all the other ladies in person. After we ate I went to the vendor area with Irene and Shirley. There were so many vendors. I don't think I made it half way through them in the 3 or 4 hours I spent there that afternoon. My happiest find came as I was leaving the building to go to dinner with some other friends. I found FQs from the Fresh Squeezed line at $2 each. I asked for all they had in that line and they found 31 FQs. Ooops, a few more than I had planned to get but I will put them to good use. I have my plans for them already!

After leaving the show I met up with Dorothy Young. She is the mystery designer on the yahoogroup A Pocket Full of Mysteries. I failed to take a picture. There was 6 of us in all. The other five knew one another from before but I seemed to fit in fine. They took me out to a chinese restaurant and we ate family style. Good food and lots of it. One of the ladies, Leslie, gave everyone 3 pieces of Sees candy and a little "sign". I chose the one that said "Housework whenever, Quilting forever". What a nice little surprise. Dorothy took me back to my hotel and we said our good byes. Another highlight for me to get to meet Dorothy.

Houston Day 2

On the second day I decided I would make a list of vendors that I really wanted to see as we planned to leave at 2 p.m. We went into the Hilton across the street to have coffee and wait for the show to open. The Hilton had beautiful lighting fixtures and carpet that had what I considered quilt blocks in the design. I wondered how old that carpeting was and thought how appropriate for the event taking place across the street in the convention center. I will see how my friends pictures turned out and post a link to them in another post.

I finished looking at the quilts and was surprised how few were left to see. The part I looked at last were all marked as "No Photography Allowed" so I was able to get through them pretty quickly. Every once in awhile I would pop back to rows that I had been though before as a quilt here or there caught my eye and I had not recalled seeing them before.

When I finished there I went to see Sharon Schamberg. I got to shake her hand and thank her for her generous sharing of her techniques. She was very nice to anyone that spoke to her. Her winning quilt was gorgeous. I then went to see Eleanor Burns. She was teaching class that day so I missed her. My loss. I meant to go see Marie Osmond but I think I forgot to go to the Janome booth. Just too much to do.

I went and met with the quiltchat gals for lunch again and then hurried to finish up my shopping. I will close with two more stories and then share more in other posts as I am sure I have lost most of you by now.

I saw Alex Anderson Friday but decided to not stop and say hello. I had an impression that she might be a little snobby and chose to not find out. On Saturday she was talking to two people and stepped around the corner to hug them. I said to her "Seeing how you are handing out hugs I will take one". She gave me one of the nicest and most sincere hugs that I have ever received from a stranger. I asked her how the show was going for her and she replied. She then asked me how I was enjoying it. In fact as I responded she asked more questions. What a genuinely nice sweet lady! I was so pleasantly surprised. I walked away smiling over that one.

Another booth I was interested in going to was the Bohin booth. My initial interest was because they are a French company and I hoped to hear them speaking French and possibly participate. When I got there I realized that I owned many of their products and how much I loved them. One of the items I own is the mechanical marking pencil that has half white chalk and half colored chalk that you can interchange. I had used the orange and was unable to remove it from the quilt. I asked the man there how to remove the colored chalk and he asked if I had tried the fabric eraser. I said I had not as I did not own one. He apologized to me for my trouble and handed me an eraser and said for you, free of charge. Another happy event.

I called my friend around 2:30 and we met to leave. We got on the road and made it home in good time with nothing eventful occuring on the way. I will go back but allow myself a little more time. I may sign up for classes as well. I am glad that I went because when other friends come to the show I know what the layout is and will be able to hostess them for their first visit.

Reflections on October. Looking Forward to November

October was not a very productive month for me. I got sick and didn't feel like doing much. Then when I was better I froze up when it came time to fussy cut the stripe fabric in my fuschia and daisy quilt. I think I am ready to cut it. Once I do I will be on a roll again.

October Accomplishments

• knit and mailed the chemo caps by October 6th
• finished my ugly tote by October 6th
• pieced the OU quilt
• pieced the baby quilts - supersized ninepatch
• pieced the golf
• partially pieced the fuschia and daisy quilt
• knit two more chemo caps. Need to finish off

November Goals

• piece another OU quilt
• finish piecing the fuschia and daisy quilt
• quilt the 2 OU quilts, golf quilt and fuschia quilt
• finish the RRs I receive

Heading for Houston!

Trying to get the directions mapped out, the numbers of folks I am supposed to meet up with and now trying to decide what I need to put on my shopping list. I do have to get prizes for my giveaway. We are trying to bust stash so don't expect fabric! I am thinking gadgets, patterns or books. We shall see.

I do know I plan to star gaze. Eleanor Burns and Sharon Schambers are two that come to mind. I also plan to look at all these lovely quilts. Not sure I can squeeze this all into two short days but I will do my very best!

Are Your Serious About Busting Stash?

Now that I am shifting from UFO work to new projects I am concentrating on using up my stash. As you may have seen in previous posts I created (too easily!) 12 kits from my stash. It was so easy I didn't even have to look to see what was in my stash. I am half way through that list to create the tops and have begun thinking about what my next steps are. I have other stacks that are intended for a specific project and have even bagged up more kits.

I have begun thinking about those fabrics that I bought because I loved them but had no intended project. My plan is to start pulling some of these fabrics and choosing a project for that fabric. I recognize I may have to buy more fabric to get some of these things done but at least I will be using what I have in my stash cabinet and not adding to it.

So here is a challenge for you. Post a comment to me and tell me what your stashbusting plans are. Leave a goal for your stashbusting efforts if you like. I am heading for Houston Thursday and will pick up a prize or two and have a drawing. I haven't decided on how to select yet but am thinking I will randomly select one winner and hand pick another based on the best stashbusting idea. Make sure I have a way of contacting you easily or I will have to select another person.

First of Three Topped This is the golf quilt I cut out this past weekend. Once I started piecing it I couldn't stay away from it. It is around 54x72. I think that is a good size for a throw.

I will be piecing the other two tops this weekend. Then onto quilting all of them!

This and That and Jack

What is on the ironing board?

What is on the sewing table?

What is on the floor?

Finally Made It To the Machine I got the third quilt cut out that I had wanted to cut last weekend. My intention was to get all three quilts that I just cut topped. Still a little under the weather but decided I would sew for at least 30 minutes today so I at least had a start. I know I spent more time than that and managed to get strip sets sewn for one quilt and the first two pieces of the blocks of the other two sewn.

Tomorrow is one of my big t.v. watching nights. I hope to press everything I just sewed then so that I can sew the next step. If I can get the strip sets pressed early enough in the evening I can subcut them on the commercial breaks!


Pictures in the next post. I promise!

Sorry for Not Posting I am dealing with something that is keeping me away from computer and sewing. I hope to be back at it by this weekend. Thinking of you all!

The Real Pic

To answer a question I was asked.....I am 6' tall.

I Met Gwhiz!!



Michelle is a chatter in quiltchat. She was visiting her SIL in the next town over from mine. Who knew she was so tall?? LOL! She is a real sweetie.

A Head Hug I have made a few chemo caps and this is the first one I could get direct feedback on as to it's fit. Ele told me she would like it a bit snugger but she likes tight hats. I am going to see if I can make one on my child loom for her that fits more to her liking. I have heard that most chemo patients rather have a loose hat. Each an individual. If you would like to read more about my dear Ele read here.

Do you know someone that would like a "Head Hug". I would be more than willing to make and send one. Just email me and tell me a little about them. If they are conservative or not. That will help choose a color. I can even send the hat to you so you can gift it to your friend. Here is a close up of another that I made.

I am Going to the Houston International Quilt Show! I put this off for so many years as it was close to dd's birthday or Halloween. I decided to bite the bullet and go this year. If you would like to meet up email (leave a comment) and I will send you contact info.

Should I get a t-shirt that has swooze written on the front and back?

Does TV Interfere with your Productivity? The new season has started for my shows and I will say that I have spent a good bit of time in front of the t.v. I am trying to decide if that is what kept me from sewing this week. I didn't really have handwork ready to work on while sitting there. I also have to admit that I was very tired all week. There is a lot of uncertainty at my work these days and peoples job futures which nets stress and wipes me out. I probably need to prep some handwork to see if I can even stay awake to work on it.

How do you balance your t.v. watching and sewing time after work?

Productive Weekend

I pieced three supersize ninepatch baby quilts, an Easy Breezy quilt in OU fabrics and then started two tops from donated UFOs. The latter just need borders.

I have three more to cut out and piece then I will be basting and quilting again soon!

What is the predominant color?

Two colors speak to me. DH and DD came up with a third. I plan to add a border to make one of the colors in this quilt pop. What would you choose?

Yes Dear? Is there a question?

....No??

Are you curious about something?

....No?

Don't you look cute. Is there a bug in your ear?



My poor quilting assistant. He has been a little cock-eyed this week. In addition he is running into walls and falling when he jumps up or down.

We went to the vet. He has an ear infection that just never seems to go away but the tilted head is a new look. Vet said he is having allergy issues. He probably has congested ears and therefor the tilt. He is on oral antibiotics in addition to the ear drops he is already on. Plus he is taking prednisone for the allergies. We notice after a few days that he is already trying to hold his head straight a little more.

September Accomplishments

Last night I tried to finish my "ugly" tote. Really I did. After the bag ate the thread twice I decided to whip out a chemo cap or two. In between searching for my yarn and getting my 8th grade math homework done :D I never found the yarn. So I abandoned plans to get those last two goals done. Tomorrow is another day.....

So here is what I did accomplish.

• make last repair on 7 Sisters
• finish quilting Chain Event
• bind Chain Event
• bind 12 Days of Christmas (thereby finishing my last UFO)
• finish 2 totes and mail
• cut out the OU and 3 baby quilts
• prepped the fabric for 2 other quilts
• designed the pattern for the golf quilt
• finished all RRs in my possession

October Goals

• knit and mail the chemo caps by October 6th
• finish my ugly tote by October 6th
• finish any RRs I receive (one at the moment)
• piece and quilt the OU quilt
• piece the baby quilts - supersized ninepatch
• piece the golf, fuschia and daisy quilt
• baste those 6 quilts

Wish me luck!

Play Date

I went to my friends house for a sew date. I did lots of pressing and cutting for new quilts. Nancy V on stashbuster mentioned to me about having some UFOs that were uninspiring. I told her she should send them to me so that I could play with them. I thought there was one but she sent two. One of the UFOs she sent 4 blocks for plus some other pieces. I love this one.

Below are the layouts I played with. I like the third layout and was trying to lean toward on point settings but may change my mind. Nancy asked I donate these to charity but really would like to give this back to her. It is really nice.

All comments on layouts are welcome!

This is the other set of blocks that she sent. There are lots of possibilies with these but I will push this one down the list for now.

I finished Beth's rr . My step was to quilt it. I hand quilted it because Beth and I are friends in real life and I thought it would really enahnce the piece. Now to mail it off to the next person.

I Checked My Goals for September I am always uncertain what I had hoped to finish as the month draws to a close. I have my tote left to finish. There were 3 in all but 2 are done and mailed. The other item was to knit chemo caps and mail them to my friend. I heard from a lot of other people that they had the same plans. I wondered if I should continue with this plan and decided to ask her what she thought. Her idea was what I had hoped she would say. She said she would donate extras to others she encounters that would like a hat.

I didn't list my other goal of getting RR's done this month but I still want to accomplish that as well. I have mailed off at least three this month and have a fourth almost ready to go. It isn't due until October but the recipient is prepared to accept it. I hope to mail this weekend.

September...a very good month!

Eye Candy

Another RR Complete This is jemo's. I had to add an applique, embellish and bind.

My Quiltchat OPs Round Robins are Home!

Pondering My Stash

Do I have too much? Too much for what? I have a sense I might. As I pawed through putting my kits together it was rather eye opening to realize the size of the stack of a dozen quilts existed many times over in various stacks and piles in my sewing room. The exercise of kitting may have been just what the doctor ordered. On my last fabric shopping expedition it was apparent that I was effected. I didn't buy any fabric!

Do I still love my stash? I do. I can think of two pieces I bought because it was on sale that I now wonder how I will use them. It isn't that I don't like them it is just that I have to find a different purpose. I even have the mauve and blues from the 80s and still love them!

What will I do with all the projects I make from my stash? Well use them of course. Will I ever have too many quilts? I might but I have started using them more. My kids could use more quilts. I can gift quilts and other items to others outside the family. I made my first charity quilt this year and have plans to make more. I don't think this is too hard to address!

How do you feel about your stash?

Doddlingdora's RR I hand quilted and added an applique.

Am I Brain Washed? I went to Golden D'Or with a friend on Saturday. This is the place where I recently purchased a large amount of fabric. I was very close to finishing my last UFO and had just read on the Stashbuster group to repeat to myself while looking at fabric "I have an obscene amount of fabric. I have an obscene amount of fabric." I didn't mean to have that mantra run through my head. It just sort of popped into my mind and wouldn't go away. At one point I even picked up a bolt of fabric and said...."This is pretty but won't go with anything I am currently working on." My head snapped around looking for the impostor with my same voice. What did she say??!?!?!?!? Ultimately I walked out with 1/2 a yard of lace for my crazy quilt collection at a whopping total of $2.17.

Quilt Kits I made my list of 12 quilts to work on next. In order to be on the list I must already have the fabric and pattern in my possession. It was way to easy to make that list. Last night I went and bagged up the corresponding fabric and material for each project in a 1 or 2 gallon Ziploc bag. I have to admit I am missing 2 pieces of fabric and 1 pattern to finish this task. I was interrupted with math homework. I will find those last two items and the pic you see here will include all of the kits.

UPDATE: SURGERY CANCELED



Total Knee Replacement And the saga continues. DH is at the hospital now waiting to get his knee re-replaced. I am getting kids to school and will be heading back up there. I hope this time goes better.

An Exciting Event

I finished my last UFO. Here is the block I contributed. To see the rest go here. This quilt was quilted by my friend tirane93. If you are interested in her services you can email her from her blog.

Another Tote Finished. Here is another view.




A Gift from Darlene.



Last UFO being bound. I picked it up from the quilter and have machined the binding on. I started tacking it to the back. It will be finished this weekend.

Another Finish This wasn't part of my official UFO count but it could be. I started this last summer.

My TV and DSL were out a few weeks ago. It took several days for the repair people to get here to fix the issue. I decided to check the box to see if there was anything obvious since we had just had a storm. This is what I found. He was eating ants.

Tweaking My Blog I do not usually notice people's tweaks that they make on their blog unless it is a complete overhaul. Since I have only one UFO left to complete I felt it was time to make a WHIMM (works hidden in my mind) or a HSY (haven't started yet) list. I went with HSY since I have the fabric for lot's of quilts purchased to specifically make a pattern. I was able to quickly list a dozen quilts and felt that was a good number to start with. I have three I would like to complete for Christmas gifts so will probably work on those all at the same time. All 12 will be "kitted" this weekend so that I can quickly find my fabric and pattern.

I noticed on the "dashboard" for my blog that I had a follower. I dug around a little bit and learned how to become a follower of other blogs and then to list my own followers. I like the feature so far as I can quickly at a glance see who has updated recently. The only bad thing is some might think I don't like them. I like so many blogs...I am sure my list will grow as my memory brings you to the forefront!

What is your favorite part of my blog? What bugs you about my blog?

Another Finish This was a mystery from apocketfullofmysteries yahoogroup from Labor Day weekend 2006. It was set aside so I could work on other UFOs. I was able to quilt this in about a weeks time.

You can see the link here.

I also managed to take the last few stitches in another UFO. Here is a link of the full quilt.

Machine Quilting After Hand Quilting I spent 2 solid months hand quilting my 7 Sisters. I learned a lot in the process about the technique and myself. I can be persistent. I stayed with this quilt and am so close to a finish. Goal setting was my friend in this case. I learned that I love hand work. I always did my binding by wrapping the back to the front but not anymore. I like the clean look of it sewn on by machine then hand tacked to the back. I am a convert. Now I look for things to work on by hand so that my t.v. time is not wasted completely. I may pull out UFOs from other techniques and get those finished up too. May...

When I sat down to quilt my Chain Events I decided to break it down into sections. I am amazed at how quickly everything went by machine. My free motion skills were still decent and I actually have improved. Amazingly this Queen size quilt is almost done. I decided to continue quilting a few "empty" spots. That will be completed tonight. I also hope to get the binding made and machined on tonight as well. I should easily be able to get the binding tacked down before the weekend is out as well.

Not sure where I am going with this post. I think the one thing is that I am learning to enjoy the process more. In the past if someone suggested I quilt more than I had already I would be upset because I felt I was done and I didn't want to think I wasn't and had to do more. Now I have an attitude of just go do it if it needs to be done. I know I will be glad I did.

Quilty Hugs!

16 Motifs That is how many maple leaf wreaths I had to quilt. 13 down three to go. I plan to finish them tomorrow and then find my fabric for my binding. I am going to repeat my brown in the quilt in the binding.

Once those are done I have a few spots that I have to decide what to do with. Should I quilt something inside the stars in the yellow squares? The other spot is at the point of the 4 patches in the borders. One suggestion I had was to use more of the pattern that I used in the 4 patches. Suggest away please!

Stashbuster Retreat and UFO Progress This past weekend was the stashbuster retreat. I decided to get an RR done and in the mail as my first priority. That went off in the mail on Saturday. I am left with one RR which I have started hand quilting. I am glad I got this piece early. I have 6 weeks to quilt it. It is small and should be doable.

On UFOs. I decided to start quilting my Chain Event. I decided to quilt small portions every day in order to not wreck my neck and shoulders and to allow me time to tend to other things. Saturday I stitched in the ditch around the 9 stars. Sunday I quilted all the 4 patches that surrounded the stars. I stitched an arc along each of the edges of the 4 patches. From the back it looks like a star flower.

I got through that quilting pretty easily so drafted my quilting pattern for the free motion onto Golden Threads paper. I wasn't totally satisfied with how it looked so took my drawing with me to my friend's house. We talked about how it looked and I made a small change to it. I am using nylon thread to quilt. They suggest that you unthread your machine and sew through one design into all your papers to mark the pattern. Somehow with out realizing it the nylon worked it's way into my sewing machine and worked it's way around the arm. I was able to get some out of the works but have to take the machine to the shop to have the rest taken care of. I was really disappointed in myself for allowing that to happen and to not be able to get more quilting done. Live and learn!

August Accomplishments

• finish hand quilting 2 inner borders of 7 Sisters - done
• bind 7 Sisters - done
• bind the 6" round robin - done
• finish my step on 5 round robins at my house or coming to me and mail - 4 of 5 done
• finish 3 totes and mail - made some progress
• knit chemo caps and mail - nope
• 1/2 of quilting done on Chain Event - not listed on my goals

September Goals

• make last repair on 7 Sisters
• finish quilting Chain Event
• bind Chain Event
• bind 12 Days of Christmas
• finish 3 totes and mail
• knit chemo caps and mail

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!!