Stash Manicure

Hurry,go check out Rae Ann's blog at Stash Manicure. Great ideas on trimming your stash and quicks projects. And.. she is having a giveaway. You have to hurry cause she's only taking entries until June 1st!


Click here and it will take you to where you can comment and sign up for the drawing.

Happy Quilting!

Memorial weekend-sewing, gardening and working around the house

Wow, time flies when you're having fun-and even when you're not!!! This was a long weekend for me and my honey. He works a different shift than I do and he usually works on Saturdays. He took this Saturday off and we had a long weekend together. This was a working weekend.

We stayed at home and did items around the house that needed doing. He put up two ceiling fans for me. It originally started out as one but grew to two. He put up a small ceiling fan in my kitchen last Wednesday and I wasn't really crazy about it. We went to Home Depot on Saturday and I saw one I liked better. He took the one down he just put up and put the newer one up. Ah, much better. He then put the freshly taken down one in my sewing room for me. I don't like it there either. He'll be taking it down and putting another one in it's place. My MIL will be getting this one. She needs one in her bedroom and likes this one so....DH has agreed to take it down again and put it up in her house.

He mowed and I worked out in the yard cleaning out flower beds and trimming shrubs.

My MIL and I dug up all the potatoes, green beans, peas and onions that we had planted. We got a decent crop of green beans. Our peas were pitiful... we decided they weren't even worth saving. Our onions were plentiful and our potatoes were ok too. We split up the veggies. Some for her, some for me and some for my oldest son and his family. He put the fencing in for our garden and was the one that wanted the potatoes. Our squash, tomatoes, beets and carrots are still in the ground growing...I've gotten a few tomatoes out of the garden and they were very good. I have a lot of green tomatoes and will have a good crop come in all at the same time. I guess my neighbors will benefit from them cause I'm the only one that eats tomatoes. I might try my hand at putting some up or freezing some. It depends how much time I have, we'll see.

Here's some of the veggies...Hmmm, I can't wait to cook those green beans with the new potatoes.








I did get a little sewing done Saturday morning. I finished all of my pinwheels. I needed 34 but made 40 as I'm giving some to a friend. I made two blocks for our summer exchange and did my next Pizza box block. I also got my new cloth leaders for my quilting frame done and ready for the machine. My honey helped my put these on tonight and now my machine is ready to put on another quilt for another attempt at quilting.

My friend, Jackie, loaned me some easy pantographs and gave me an old top to practice on. I'll be putting this on later in the week and attempting to do pantographs.

I'm still working on my tatted flag and I'm almost finished with the blue part. Then, I can start on the red and white stripes. I'm enjoying tatting this but the navy blue is really hard to see at night. It sure helped me through my days of feeling bad though and I'll keep doing it until it's finished...

My tooth is feeling better except this morning the temporary crown came off. I called the dentist and she will see me again tomorrow to re-cement the crown. I don't go back for the second treatment on the root canal until next Monday and she didn't want the tooth uncovered that long. I'm not hurting, so that's good. We had a great weekend but we really worked hard. I'm going to go back to work tomorrow just to get some rest. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Til next time...

Tatting, toothache and TV

I haven't done any sewing this week. I broke a tooth and have had a toothache all week. I was finally able to get into the dentist and they started a root canal, ugh, but at least it will save the tooth. I am drugged up and just not feeling like sewing. I have watched a little TV (American Idol) and tatted some. I am currently working on the American flag and am really enjoying tatting it. It is just ring and chain tatting so it is mindless but it takes my mind off the achiness in my jaw. It is an old Workbasket pattern from November 1976. A friend of mine, Nancy, from New to Me tatted it and it is beautiful. She shared the pattern with us and now there are a few of us in my tatting group doing it. One of the girls is doing a Texas flag. She's using this pattern as a guide but making up her own pattern for the star.

The flag is 13 inches across and 8.5 in length. I am using Lizbeth size 20 in the colors of red, blue and ecru. I am working on row 8 of the blue section. It's going to take a while to do this one but I don't care. I love this and plan on framing it after I complete it. I haven't taken any pictures of this but you can see it at Nancy's blog and follow her progress through the making of it or here's a picture of her flag.

Here's Nancy's picture of her flag. My flag should look just like hers when it is finished as I'm using the same colors/thread that she used.


Didn't she do a great job? The only difference in the pattern is I am using split ring on each end instead of cutting and tying off each time. It goes so much quicker this way!

American Idol was great last night. I loved them bringing on the singers like they did...Joe Cocker, Michael McDonald, Brett Michaels, Christina A., etc. This was so entertaining to me. I think this was the best finale they have ever had. I am going to miss Simon, he was one reason I started watching! I thought he was the most honest judge they had plus he was easy to look at! What a cutie...

More Pinwheels and Jelly Roll Quilt Along

I came home tonight and made block 7 of the Jelly Roll Quilt Along. This was a fun block and it was quick and easy to do...

The corner pieces look brown or black but they are a dark purple...



I also made 6 pinwheels for my exchange. I now only have 28 more pinwheels to make. Sorry, I didn't take any pics of these but will show you these when the other 28 are done...I don't want to bore you with these little blocks. This is the last installment of our exchange and when we exchange these, we can start putting our quilts together. I love this quilt and am so excited about getting this together. I had made 14 pinwheels but am keeping those for another project. I'll show you that later. til next time...

Learning Curve and more tidying up.

Friday night I put a small top on the frame. My first one... Should we say, learning curve???? I watched the video and read the little book that came with it. I put it on the frame correctly but... I'm not crazy about the tension on the frame. I'm not crazy about the Leader cloths. I'm definitely going to make different ones of those. I sure wasted alot of time and have nothing to show for it. I took it off the frame and reviewed my efforts. Not good. I am too ashamed to show you my efforts. On the first pass, I forgot to lower the presser foot so you know what that means? It looked good on top but the bottom had all kinds of eyelash length thread everywhere. I was surprised that my thread didn't break. This is not a true Long Arm, it is a sewing machine and has to be treated like one. I have to remember that one. I learned so much on this one little top but not enough.

To have this machine, I had to move some stuff around. When we were rearranging, I noticed one of my bookshelves didn't look right. The top shelf had collapsed and had caused the next two shelves below it to collapse too. You know, like the domino effect.
My husband fixed my bookshelf and I reshelved some books. I have decided I'm definitely cutting back on my book buying. I'm also going to sell some books, give some away to friends and to the guild. I am going on a no-buy diet...no more books or magazines, no more gadgets, no more anything for at least 6 months. At least I'm going to try really hard.

I put some fabric on the machine on Saturday and tried again. Better this time but not great. I can definitely see why the Long Armers say to have at least 3-4" around your quilt on all sides. I'm getting there but still not ready to put an actual quilt on. I'll be practicing for awhile I think....

I didn't get anything accomplished over the weekend except practicing. I learned alot but have nothing to show yet. I was kind of discouraged but I keep telling myself it takes time to learn anything so I'm not going to beat myself up too badly.

My sewing room is looking better though and that makes me feel more organized so I do feel good about that. I can find more things now. All my books are on bookshelves now instead of on the floor. That's alot better and now I can go through and purge...so, I guess I did get a little done this weekend.

My small group, Sew What's meeting

Last night was my small quilt group meeting. We had a blast. It is so inspiring to see what others are working on...I love show and tell. We have so many talented, wonderful women in my group. Here's some of the many things that our group brought to brag about...

Our new member, Cindy, made this for a community service quilt.



Cindy made this cute bag this week.




Elsie's applique block


A Mother's Day gift from Elsie's daughter, Glenda


Irene and her little quilt. She's finishing up projects. This is hand quilted, isn't it pretty?


Jackie was given this top from a friend. The friend said if she didn't want it she was going to throw it away. Jackie recently got a quilting machine and the friend said she could have it to practice on. Jackie quilted this and is giving it back to her friend as a gift....


Another of Jackie's quilts. This one is a gift also.


Judy made this one for a friend. This was a floral fabric exchange a few years back. This friend is in her 80's and takes care of her 103 year old mother...Wow! I know she will love this thoughtful gift. It's lovely.


Sally made this for her oldest granddaughter as a college graduation gift...I really like how she put all the T-shirts together. Too cute. The backing fabric has been in Sally's stash forever. It was the left-over fabric from making the granddaughters curtains, quilt and layette set when she was born! How great is that!



Sharon and her selvedge purse. This is so cute. It's bigger than I thought but I gotta have one of these!



See, I told you these ladies were talented! I have more pics to post but will have to do that later. til next time.....

I'm scared of bees!

I was going to try to put a quilt on the machine last night and see what I could do but I just couldn't...I went upstairs, turned on the lights and walked over to the machine. I thought I would hook up the Sure Stitch on the machine and see if I could get it all set up. I kept hearing a buzz, buzz, buzzing sound...then I saw a bee on the light fixture. Then, there was another one flying around. I went back downstairs to get the fly swatter and see if I could find some hornet spray or bug spray --- I couldn't. I went back upstairs with my little flimsy fly swatter and then there were four little bees flying around. OMG, where are they coming from??? I shooed one of them out the window and then concentrated on the other three. They kept buzzing around the light fixture (now what's up with that anyway??? what's the attraction to the light source?) and when they would fly out, I would swat at them. I am not a good swatter and I finally decided it was not going to be a sewing night for me! I turned off the lights, shut the door and put a towel underneath the door so they couldn't sneak out. I turned the TV on and decided it was a tatting night instead!

When my husband came home we went upstairs and he took down the light fixture to see where the bees might be coming in from...Did you know that bees sleep at night? I guess they do cause there weren't any buzzing around. He put the light fixture back up and taped up some places around it that he thought they migh crawl through... He'll come back later and caulk or whatever to fix it permanently. He doesn't think it's a big deal since there were only four and I didn't hear alot of buzzing except for the four that got in. I'm going to go up tonight and see if I see anymore and hear any more buzzing. Hopefully, we don't have a hive or whatever in the attic. I've had wasps in my sewing room and I hate those too. I don't mind crawly bugs that you can kill easily but I hate flying things. They totally freak me out! My husband said it was a good thing I didn't have any bug spray cause I would have gotten that stuff everywhere and he's probably right. (He's seen me spray wasps outside with the spray.) I would have sprayed those little suckers until they couldn't fly anymore and I would have had to clean up alot more than it was worth for four little bees.

I have a quilt meeting tonight so it will be late when I come home. I won't be able to see if there are any bees tonight but Friday afternoon, I'll be able to tell. I'm hoping the situation is taken care of but time will tell. I'll let you know if I can sew in my sewing room or have to bring a machine downstairs! Til next time...

Friday night sewing with Heidi and Bobbi

This Friday is sewing night with Heidi...go sign up if you haven't already...

Click here to go there to sign up.

A little quilting machine and making room for it...

Saturday afternoon, my DH, my son and I went to one of my friend's homes and picked up a small quilting machine. She decided she didn't want to machine quilt and this was in her way, so... I decided I would buy it from her and try my hand at quilting some of my quilts. It's a little Gracie frame (queen size) and has a Brother 1500S Mid arm machine with it. We brought it home but couldn't start setting it up until Sunday evening. It was set up at crib size when I got it so it needed to be switched out to Queen size. I had to clean out a space for it first which I did and they manipulated it upstairs to my sewing room. My husband and I switched it to the Queen size which took up quite a bit more room but will be more functional for me. This change in length made me decide to rearrange my room and my husband and son have been upset with me since...You see, I can't do it all by myself and have to have "help." (Definition of help=they move the furniture or object for me.) I decided to move a table out, move a bookcase from one side of the room to the other, a dresser and various other items to make it more user friendly. I had to unload 2 bookshelves and move my quilt tops and hanging rack and rocker and...well, you get the picture. I will have my work space all sorted out this week and hopefully, be up and running by the weekend. I have a two story house and the top floor is mine but it is just one big room separated by a staircase. I have my sewing machine, cutting area and fabric on one side and my hand quilting frame, machine quiting frame and all my books (4 bookcases) on the other side...This room was originally intended for storage or a gameroom or whatever but I took it over. I can go up and be in my own world and no one bothers me. It's just taking me a few days to get everything like I want it and then I can play.

Saturday Sewing-UFO3-Crazy 8's-Jelly Roll Quilt Along-Thomas Quilt blocks

I finally finished sewing together UFO 3- Dear Blanche Again...this is out of Eleanor Burn's book-Egg Basket Quilts. This is the one I've been trying to sew up all week and was finally able to do it. I think I'll leave this as is without any borders. 121 little blocks all together. These are all Civil War fabric and I really like this little quilt. It will look so good quilted...I can't wait to see it.




Here's a close up of the little blocks:




Then, I sewed together eleven more Crazy Eight blocks. I now have 18 of these. Not sure how many I need but I have alot more leader/ender blocks to sew. I'll eventually lay these out and see where/how they go together. More later...




I made block 6 for the Jelly Rolly Quilt Along...




Last, but not least, I did not sew these today. I made them Wednesday night and these are the last two blocks for this quilt...This is a Marti Michell pattern. I don't remember the name of it but I'll tell you what it is when I start putting it together. I have to make a patch border now for this.






Now, I'm going to the quilt store and to a friend's house to buy a quilting machine...more on this later....

Fun times with tatting friends and a good check up

Yesterday was Tatting Tuesday among other things...(I didn't tat at all but had fun at our tatting group anyway.)

The day started out with me going to my oncologist for a check up. It was a great visit with my doctor. I am doing great and don't have to go back to see her for a whole year. What a great way to start the day. She told me to start taking Vitamin D, work on losing weight and just be healthy. I can do that...I plan on getting back on Weight Watchers, walking more and exercising more and running after my grandbabies more...Life is good and I plan on being around a long time. After I left the doctor, I decided to take the day off and make it a girl day. I called one of my tatting buddies and arranged to have lunch with her. I had a little time to waste before I met her, so I went to Joann's and just took a leisurely stroll around the store and enjoyed not having to rush. I left Joann's and went to my friend's house. We visited for awhile and decided to go to Babe's Chicken and to a LQS in Carrollton that we had not been to in a long time. She had never gone to Babe's before and she loved it...We had a good lunch and then strolled over to the Old Craft Store. What a lovely store. I looked around and found several things I liked. I was a good girl and only bought a charm pack. (I recently bought the book, Schnibbles X 2 and wanted to make something out of it. I failed to look at the book before I went and now know that I should have bought 2 charm packs...Hmm, now this gives me an excuse to go back to the quilt shop.) We left the shop and strolled around the town and went into some of the shops and really enjoyed the afternoon. We decided we would go back soon and spend the day browsing the shops we didn't get to...Then, onto the tatting meeting. We didn't do any tatting last night. We all worked on making cards and it was so much fun. Our tatting group is made up of women that are very talented. We do all kinds of crafts besides tatting. The second Tuesday of each month, we focus on other crafts. This month was card making. You would have thought it was a craft show with all the card making supplies, stamps, inks, card stock, Sissix cutters and supplies, etc...One of our ladies makes and sells cards and she is wonderful. She is so talented. She is the go to girl on card making in our group. We laughed and laughed and made a few cards too. A great way to end a wonderful day.

Tonight, I went to my son's and had supper. I played with my grandkids for a little while, got my hair cut and came home. I was going to sew but decided I needed to clean up and organize a little tonight. I put my tatting patterns together, cut up some fabric for scraps, cleaned up my sewing area and got ready for some sewing time tomorrow. I had a great night and now I'm ready to finish some things...til next time....

Weekend Sewing and Mother's Day

Hello everyone...I didn't get alot done this weekend. Too many distractions. I started out sewing Saturday morning. I planned on getting my UFO 3 all sewn up but I kept getting phone calls. I sewed three horizontal rows of this quilt and that's all that got done. With all the phone calls and distractions, I just wasn't into it...

I had cut out a blouse pattern during the week and decided to work on it. I bought this pattern last week at Joann's. I haven't sewn clothing in years. I saw this and thought it was cute. I had some fabric that had been sitting around for oh, probably 6 years. I remember buying it at the LQS but I had no plans for it at the time. I pulled it out and it was just the right amount for this pattern. I started sewing on this and boy, do those 5/8" seams look big?! When you don't use something, you sure lose it! I had to make 6 pleats on this little blouse. No buttons, it was a blouse to slip on over the head. I worked on this for a little while then had to stop so I could go to the old grocery store. Ugh, I hate shopping on Saturdays and it was a holiday too! OMG, the store was packed.

I bought my groceries and came home and unpacked and the grandkids arrived. They came in like little tornadoes...No more sewing today but I sure had fun with my little sweeties.

I got up a little early Sunday morning unable to breathe. My allergies are so bad, the sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes woke me up....I got up, took some more drugs and went upstairs to finish the blouse. I got the sleeves put in and used my serger to finish the seams. Of course, I had to blow the dust off of it first!

I went to church and then went to my MIL's for lunch...I finished up hemming the blouse at her house. She was so surprised that I was making a blouse, she actually laughed at me...She was impressed that I could still make clothes though.

We came home but no sewing was done for the rest of the day/evening. The drugs had kicked in and I fell asleep on the couch. Happy Mother's Day, huh....

BOM updates

I haven't posted anything this week as you can see. It's not because I haven't been sewing, it's just that I have been busy and not taken the time to post. I haven't finished anything this week but I have been trudging along on a few things. I take that back, I did finish my last two blocks for my Thomas quilt. I didn't take any pics yet but I will. Now, I can start putting this quilt together.

Nancy, the Patchwork Penguin drew another UFO for this month. It ended up being number three, which for me is Dear Blanche again. I don't know if you have noticed, but I still haven't completed March or April BOM's.

The March BOM was UFO 2 and it was Dear Blanche. I did complete the top and it is at the Longarmer's as we speak...

April was UFO 10, Scrappy Pineapple. It is still in the flimsy stage. I think that is an accomplishment right there but I saw something the other day. It's not a quilt until it's quilted or something to that effect. I haven't done anymore to the top over the month. I haven't forgotten about it. Believe me...I have thought and thought. I'm so torn about this one. I'm still thinking about putting a piano keyboard border on this one..I will work on this one soon, I promise.

Now, to update you on this month's UFO, Dear Blanche Again. (I will change that name later.) I have 121 completed blocks, these are 6 1/2" blocks and this was an exchange. This took place over a 12 month period. The pattern is out of the Eleanor Burns book, Egg Basket Quilt or something like that. I don't remember the name of the book, I have it at home...These completed blocks have just been sitting around for about 3 years now. We finished the exchange and I just never took the time to finish the project. Last night, I started out by putting them on my design wall. I put them up as 10 rows of 12, with one block left over. When I started sewing the blocks together, I kept thinking...Why is there one block left? Did I do all the exchange? Did I lose some blocks, why the odd number? Then it dawned on me...this is supposed to be a square quilt. 11 rows by 11 rows for a total of 121 blocks. I started out arranging the blocks. I gave up on that and finally just grabbed up all the blocks and I sewed whatever block came up next. I had alot of red blocks in the quilt so the only rule I decided on was to try to not put two reds together....I sewed the blocks together vertically last night. I did not sew the horizontal rows yet. It was getting late and I was tired so I'll finish sewing them tonight. More to come later...

Happy Friday!!!!

My garden and Amy's BOM blocks

I got up really late this morning. I don't know what happened but the electricity went off this morning and I slept in. I was going to church but so much for that! I got up about 10:30...I never get to sleep that late anymore but I sure enjoyed it. My husband made us some breakfast and I just got to relax. Love it...He went outside to do yard work and I got to go up and sew. I made Amy's blocks and several more floating four patches. I also went outside and worked out in my garden. Maybe I should say, my Mother-in-laws garden. She came out and planted it, my son and husband put in the dirt and wood and we put up the chicken wire fencing to keep the rabbits out. Now, my job is to water and care for all these lovely little plants, oh, I get to eat it too...My MIL is the gardener in our family. She loves to putter in the yard and we reap the benefits. She does too but we eat more of it than she does...I pulled onions up today and gave to my neighbor. The onions are great...here's some pics of our little garden.









Here's my blocks. I was able to do all three of the blocks today. These were fun blocks to do. I liked all three of these blocks but it's a tie on my favorite this month...I liked Road to the Whitehouse and Follow the Leader the best. Road to the Whitehouse was fun and quick and I really like the fabric I used for it. I liked Follow the Leader because of the pattern it made...

Ohio Star



Road to the White House


Follow the Leader


I hope you have a great week and get to sew as much as you want to. Til next time....

Saturday Sewing

Ok, guys, I'm taking a break and going to dinner with my family. I've gotten quite a bit done today and I'm not sure if I'll be able to sew tonight when I get back but I've had a very enjoyable sewing day....
I started sewing on this last night and was able to finish it this morning. I think it's called Bella Baby. This is the second top I'm doing for Judy and I think it turned out so cute. I think she'll be pleased. I know she got this about two years ago when we went on a short shop hop (just three of us) together. She fell in love with this little quilt when she saw it. I think she needs this one for a baby shower in May, oh...it is May. Anyway, maybe she can quilt this one quickly. Here's Baby Bella or Bella Baby, I forget what it's called and I'm too lazy right now to walk up the stairs and look....




Here's a close-up. There were 4 big flowers and 12 little flowers. I used steam a seam to applique this...


I got this block done for my sewing group. This is going to be block four of the pizza box project. This is an easy block off of Marcia Hohn's site, Quilter's Cache. I wanted the girls to have a signature block that everyone can sign that participated in the project. We'll have a pizza party and reveal our blocks and everyone can sign the blocks at that time....Remember, this is just my sample block...


Here's my block for the Jelly Roll Quilt Along...



I got 6 blocks done for my small group exchange. This month was a square in a square block...I only needed 5 but I made the 6th one for good measure.



I also did 5 pinwheels and finished 4 of my Leader and Ender blocks..They are called Crazy Eights. I'm doing the blocks in florals and I'm liking the blocks alot. I love doing the Leader/Ender method...it's like doing 2 quilts at the same time and you don't even notice you're getting anything done until there they are. I wish I had started doing this years ago...



I got 13 floating four patches halfway done, the four patch part is done and I have the outside triangles cut, I just need to sew them on. Hmmm, let's see, oh yeah, I put an inner border around my middle section of the Schoolhouse quilt. The middle part is snowballs. I made the 6 Square in a Square blocks...these go with this quilt. We have two more exchanges after this month. Two months of pinwheels...17 pinwheels per month. I almost have those done now. I should be getting my little house blocks this month and I'll start putting this together and you'll see some progress on this very soon. Here's the mid section. This quilt was on the cover of Quilt Sampler and there are 5 of us exchanging.



I am now up-to-date on everything and can work on Amy's BOM. That's the next thing on my list...I bought some red and blue fabric yesterday at the quilt store. I don't feel a bit guilty either. I have only bought fabric this year to finish up things and I have been using everything else out of my stash. I have cut down alot of my spending since I quit working at the quilt shop. Mostly because I'm not there and I'm not tempted but also, I'm staying away and trying to use my stash.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and getting quality sewing time in...gotta go check on my blog buddies and see what's going on with them. til next time....

Amy's BOM, Crazy Mom Quilt's is back! and My sweet sister, Judy

Ok, I can't stay on the computer and get any sewing time in but I just wanted to let you know that Amy's BOM is up and ready for May. Happy May Day everyone!!!!

Also, Amanda from Crazy Mom Quilt's is back to blogging again and she has the cutest little bird quilt ever. Go check her out.

Welcome back, we've missed you! Now, gotta go sew, I'm about 30 minutes away from finishing up the 2nd quilt for Judy and it's so cute. Stay tuned as I'll be posting pics of it today and all my Friday night, Saturday sewing...Amy, I'm right there with you for some sewing time this weekend.

Lastly, but certainly not least, my sister, Judy, is home and doing fine. I'll be seeing her later today or tomorrow. Can't keep a good woman down! Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes.

Now, off to sew!

The Calico Quilter is having a clear out!!!

Hey guys, go check out the Calico Quilter. She's having a clear out and you will definitly get some great bargains from her. The Pansy Park quilt I am almost finished with is up for grabs for very cheap....it costs me almost $200.00 and it is beautiful. She has the same kit for $50.00. It is a queen size quilt and is Thimbleberries. You can't get it anywhere for that...She's also got a stash deal too...click here and you can go to her blog or click on the thumbnail on the right(It's the Cat's House, I just live here) and you can get there too. I got a great book from her a few years back just for postage and it is one of my favorite books. She is very generous and wants her yardage and scraps to go to someone that can use them....