Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter Evening...


 I hope you all had a Blessed Easter!

It was quiet around here.

I managed to get some sewing in.

Here are the pieced blocks to go
with stitchery block 6...


 
(I apologize for the sad state of my stitchery pieces.
They are obviously in desperate need of pressing!)

I also had time today to cut all the
pieces for the next set of blocks.
It surprises me how quickly
I am getting these done. 


But, you know...
when working on these blocks, 
 I think that I spend as much time
choosing the fabrics and cutting the pieces
as I do sewing them together! 

ohwell...I am having fun!

Have a great work week!



"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Easter...


 Jesus Christ is Risen Today...
Alleluia!





"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Saturday, March 30, 2013

And...More Snow Days.


To make sure I got some sewing in this weekend, I sat down and pieced these blocks at suppertime last night...

Here they are with stitchery block 5...

The pinwheel block and the martha washington star block are 6.5 inch blocks...talk about a lot of seams in that star one!  WOW!  It's not difficult, though...just lots of seams in a small area. 

I am now about 1/3 of the way finished with the outer border blocks!  Trying not to look ahead, but to take it one step at a time.  There are a gazillion blocks to piece for the center of the quilt and if I took the time to think about them...well, I think I would be very much overwhelmed.

I did not sew or knit or anything today...was busy with some cleaning and moving around of furniture.  Trying to fit lots of stuff in a small space is a constant challenge.  You know what I'm saying, right?  So, I rearranged and reorganized a few things to make it look less cluttered in here.  It helps my mind to not be so cluttered when my stuff is more organized.  But, when I am working on more than one project at a time, I tend to not put things away.  Which, then, causes clutter.  Lots of it.  So.  Eventually it gets to me and I need to do something about it.  Got all that?  ~grin~   

For your viewing pleasure, here is sleeping Kisa...


No photos of Tag today.  Sorry.  (and the only reason you got this photo of Kisa is because she was laying right next to me...I quickly snapped the photo just to put in this post. ~grin~)

Have a Blessed Easter!



"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Sunday, March 24, 2013

The One with Block Four...

Finished putting together all the fabric blocks to go with stitchery block 4...whew!  Together they make up the upper right corner of the  Snow Days quilt. 

I laid all the pieces out so you could see what is going on.

Tomorrow is Monday...already!

Hope you had a great weekend...and that your work week goes well!


Friday, March 22, 2013

TGIF!

Though I try to not wish the days away, I am always happiest when it is Friday!  Nothing can ruin Fridays for me, for in my world, Friday is a magical sort of day for me.  Why?  Because it means that the weekend will be starting as soon as I leave work (and I only work until 2:00, you know!)

Yes, indeed...the weekend. 

What do weekends mean for you? 

For me, the weekend is leisure time...I stay up late...I read til my eyes fall out of my head...I sew my fingers  to the bone...I eat until I am so stuffed that I cannot move (oh.  that's actually not what I do)...I sleep in (I don't do this, either)...I talk on the phone until I have elephant ear (ouch)...and I play my music loud (hoping that others around me have the weekend off work, too!).

But, mostly...I am happy that it is the weekend because there is no schedule.  Or, rather, the schedule is what I make it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I haven't done too much sewing this week, but I did get some pieced blocks made for Block 3 of the Snow Days quilt. 


 
And, I got the baby squares quilt top put together...am working on the quilting now...

I have books to read and fabric to sew...must get moving.

Have a great weekend!




"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Sunday, March 17, 2013

More Snow Days!



You can see in the photo below that there are many, many blocks to piece for this quilt.  After the blocks are pieced, I will attach them in sections and do the additional stitching (extending the trees onto the pieced border blocks), then I will sew the sections together.  It is going to take some serious time to complete.  And, let us not forget about the custom quilting on this one!  I will show you blocks as I get them done...just wanted to prepare you to not expect a finish in the very near future.

Here is the pattern cover... 

Here's what I did yesterday...


With the knowledge that 'snow days' is going to be an ongoing project for quite some time (I really want to get it done by next winter), I really feel the need to have other projects to work on.  Really?  So, I went ahead and cut out some 3 1/2 inch squares from one of the groupings of fabric from Cathy...see this post.  

These prints just seemed to belong together, so how could I resist?  I may have a few in my stash to add to them.  I will for sure add some white squares to make it a nice baby quilt size.

Gosh, could a girl have too many wip's?  Well, perhaps.

At any rate, I am having fun.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!
 


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Friday, March 15, 2013

Snow Days!

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a long while may remember that I started working on a quilt called, Snow Days.  Two years ago.  My good blogging friend, Sharon, and I are doing this together.  Across the miles.  Yes, two years...I know...I can hardly believe that myself!

I worked gung-ho on the stitchery blocks and finished those up in 11 months.   The last stitch worked was in January, 2012.  And, then it sat.  There seemed to be always something else calling to me and I just didn't get going on it.  

Until now.

I took a deep breath and jumped into it last night and started piecing the fabric block to go with the first stitchery block. There is still one more part to go and then I need to attach the stitchery block and do some more stitching on the pieced block.  It is going to be awesome!  (I hope.)


I thought I had a photo of the 'snow days' quilt here on my blog, but cannot find it.  I will have to scan one in.  

Have a great weekend!





"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Monday, March 11, 2013

Scraps...

When I arrived home from work,
I spied a package leaning
against my door.

It was a large flat-rate 
 priority mail box.

I opened it to find...

SCRAPS!!
LOTS of them!!
From...
you know...
my good friend, Cathy!

Such fun fabrics she has.
Very different than 
what I have! 
That is why it's 
so much fun to
get these boxes
of scraps!

What fun I'll have playing with these...
thank you so very much, Cathy!



"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Cover Up...

  
Since living here in this smaller space, I haven't had my old computer desk and setup.  I've been using my laptop...and sometimes my cell phone.  However, son Paul, et al., gave me an eprinter for my birthday (thank you guys!).  But, smaller space...no desk...where to put it?  Being wireless, it could go anywhere.  I finally settled on putting it at the end of my sewing table.  I don't use a printer a lot, but I do like to have one.  And, because I don't use it everyday, I decided to keep it turned off and covered until I needed to use it.  Okay...covered up.  With...ohyeah, I could make something!  

Here it is... 
 
 
It was actually fairly simple.  It took me longer to quilt it than anything else.  Height times two plus width by height times two plus length.  I basted together the main fabric and batting and quilted it in the wavy lines you see in the above photo.  Which, by the way, I really like!  I subtracted 1/4" from the height measurement (to allow for the seam width) and cut a square from each cover of the lining and the main fabric.  After sewing those 8 seams to make the square corners, I put the lining (right side out) inside the wrong side of the main fabric, then sewed the binding on.  Once I hand stitched the binding to the inside, I was done!  Now my new eprinter won't get all dusty/dirty.  

Son Paul came yesterday and hooked up my blu-ray player.  I set up a Netflix account...and, so far, I have watched 4 movies.  lol.  Three of them I had seen before, but I enjoyed watching them again.  

The new "Footloose" movie was the one I hadn't yet seen...I liked it! 

It's been raining most of the weekend...a good excuse for not doing much. 

How about you...were you ambitious and did you accomplish a lot, or did you pretty much just hang out as I did?

Have a great week!






"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

The 4's Have It!

Been involved in more therapy.

Knitting therapy, that is.

Me Mum asked for small washcloths...
so I made these for her.
  4 colors.  
4 patterns.
4 inches.
  
Perhaps I will block them
 to make them all pretty and square.




 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

More...or Less...Baby Zigs...



It's snowing today...
started this a.m. and is still coming down.
Today was a scheduled day off for me...
I was supposed to go to the doctor, 
but that was rescheduled.
So, I've just been having a nice quiet day...
reading and sewing and chatting on the phone. 

I worked on the baby zigzag quilt a little bit...
took the last row of zigs
(or were they zags?)
away so that the center part
(where the zigzags are)
was more square.
I trimmed off the points,
and added a border of Kona cotton solid in Bone
and a border of alternating squares.
Right now,
this measures about 30" square.
I want it a bit larger, so will need to add to it.

For now, though?  I am going to read.




"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Baby Zigs...

These are the cutest!
Don't you think?
Baby zigzags...
each block measuring 4 inches.
This is the center part of a baby quilt.

 No half-square triangle zigzags for me.
 I followed this tutorial,
as I did once before.
  See that zigzag quilt here.

Story still forthcoming.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meant to post this photo
on my last post.
Cuz I wrote about him.
It's Conlan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow is Monday.
Only thing good about that
is that I have Tuesday off.
Annual physical.
LOVE my doctor!

Have a wonderful week!




"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Marching On...


I am so happy that March is finally here.  I am tired of winter.  Spring (well, the official day of, anyway) is in less than 3 weeks.  woohoo!  Warmer weather has got to be coming our way soon! 

I haven't done any sewing at all this past week.  I finally got the itch to do something, so cut some fabric tonight.  I have another baby quilt to make...

Those are all green prints...and much prettier in person.  There's a story here that I'll share when the quilt is completed.

I stopped in at my lqs this morning.  Grabbed one of these...

There may be a story involving these fabrics and my lqs.  Time will tell.

Here's the brown boy...though his head is resting on his snowman, I am sure that he, too, is dreaming of spring!

Another upcoming project for me involves these fabrics.  I may be able to add 'designer extraordinaire' after my name if this turns out.  ~grin~

Of course, I do have more projects, but I think this is all my mind can handle for now.

I really must get some quilt tops put together with batting and backings and quilted!  I don't seem to have the energy for that right now.  They'll be there waiting when I am ready.  

Had a little chat with my grandson, Conlan, tonight.  He is 10 years old and we chat on the phone like two little old ladies...it is hilarious!  He was at home and I was here...we were both watching Hawaii 5-O and talking about the cast of characters.  His favorite is Steve McGarret (Alex O'Loughlin).  I told Conlan that he was my favorite, too...and that I thought he was terribly good-looking.  When I asked Conlan if he liked him for the same reason, he laughed and told me that he liked him cuz he was the 'only one on the show with abs'.  Cracked me up!  But, he's right.  Here he is...and wearing those eternal cargo pants.   ~sigh~


Something new...the other night, Kisa laid right behind Tag on the ottoman.  They are touching!  I was very surprised...this is a first.  I guess they do enjoy each other's company, after all!  Well, at least this time.  ~grin~

That's all I have to share with you tonight.  I plan to sew tomorrow, so you may want to check back and see what I accomplished!

In the meantime, have a great rest of the weekend!




"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11