What is Red with White all over?

My snowball blocks!  Still working on them-got them all put together into rows and will begin joining rows into blocks this weekend.

Will post pictures maybe tomorrow-just wanted to give a brief update for my challenge co-horts!

Shelly

Red: the color of Love or Anger????

Well my awesome ivories and wonderful gorgeous reds are now a GAZILLION 1/2 square triangles!!!  Ok well not a gazillion but 500+ and not quite done, I still have to cut them all apart.....burst my own bubble.  I was determined to get these done so that I can use our 10 hour car ride to Tennessee on Wednesday to cut them apart.  I am hoping to slip my "ghetto" (no offense please) in a suitcase with out my husband knowing so that I might be able to put these together with the center squares.  Considering how many of these there are, I will be happy with just getting them cut apart!

Wahoo!!!

They all got here on Saturday!!  I was into that package quicker than ice melting in July!!  They are beautiful and range from light light to light tan.  Thank you so much swap partners!!

This is my first attempt at something scrappy.  I have been quilting for about 15 years now and have NEVER done anything like this-I can't even see the architect of a block if it is shown as scrappy-I have a scrappy mental block.  Yesterday I was putting together the reds and had to stop myself from trying to group them, make a pattern, sort, organize....UGH!!  It is funny now but was not funny yesterday!  Then to top it all off-I decided to make the quilt bigger so that I can use it on my bed.  I suppose I am into self punishment on this one!

I think I will be doing the 1/2 square triangles using triangle paper.  I figure the paper will cover the fabric and I won't be able to see the scrappy, the lack of rhyme or reason.....  ;)

Love seeing the progress on the other blogs!

Mr Postman-bring me a dream.....

the dream has been ivory/off white/cream/light beige strips which I will NOT open until I have all my packages!  My packages are traveling the world as we speak.

I thought I was going to make this using the gazillion yellow fat quarters I have collected the past 10 years.  But after seeing everyone else's red versions-I switched it up and dug out the reds.  Holy cow did I have a lot of reds and it was funny because some of my favorite ones I had 2 or 3 pieces.  At least I am consistent.

I washed all my reds and used 2 Color Catchers and then re-rinsed using 2 more which still turned pink!!  Good thing I listened to Nicole!

I finally got my book in the mail this week and had a panic attack when I couldn't find the red and cream snowball quilt in the book....took me a second peek through to realize it was the scrappy directions we were doing-consistent but not quick....

I cannot wait for this weekend-we have no real plans and I hope to be able to sew!
Take care,
Shelly

Still Here!

I have no real excuse as to why I have not blogged in 2 MONTHS!!  Holy Cow!  One reason that is a good one is that my sister got married.  As the Matron (HATE that word-Matron) of Honor it was a lot of work even with a wedding planner.  I was in charge of the RSVP's, table favors and a secret shower.  There had been some sewing going on-I made a wall hanging for my sister and her hubby and mid stream decided to quilt it with black thread instead of the King Tut that I had bought for it.
I loaded it on the frame, made some extra bobbins and away I went with the WalMart special thread....BIG mistake!!  I am now the proud owner of a birds nest wall hanging and my sister and her hubby got a last minute gift card to Bed Bath & Beyond.  I have been working on ripping it out with my best friend's assistance (the seam ripper).  I have since bought the only thread to use in my machine while on the frame and once I get this mess ripped out, I will have what I need to make it beautiful.

I was able to finish "Jack" he is so cute and I love the random Halloween fabrics I picked up here and there. My holder is a mantle wreath holder and I used triangles in the corners and chop sticks in between-Cute and Green!
I like the seasonal quiltlets so I think I will keep my wreath holder dressed appropriately.  I already have one going for Fall-it is a wrought iron fence with a tree and you sew leaf buttons on the ground.  Can't wait to have that up on Sunday!
I am participating in a scrappy snowball quilt challenge that is the brain child of Nicole at Sister's Choice Quilts and Allyson at Fat Cat Quilts.  I am even doing the light fabric swap-how cool will that be!  I am finding though that I have  A TON of ivory/cream fat quarters but not much yardage.  I might have to shop to follow through with this swap.  Not a bad thing either ;)

BOM's

I love the concept of Block of the Month's (BOM's). I love to sew and this allows me to ease into a project instead of having yardage hanging around as UFO's.

Currently I have the Thangles Buck a Block going from my local quilt shop: www.ogpquiltshop.com and the Natural Wonders by Debbie Mumm: http://shop.debbiemumm.com/p-4509-bom-2009-quilt-1.aspx

Enough to keep me busy yet still work on other stuff-well not so much of either lately.

This morning as I was cruising through my favorite blogs I saw this at the the Jolly Jabber-Beautiful and such a mix of material!

http://www.fatquartershop.com/Green-Piece-Moda-Block-of-the-Month.asp

Loving it and will head back there shortly to sign up-Hubby is in the same room-can't be whipping out the quilt only credit card-too many questions I don't want to answer!

Then while I am there I see this one!

http://www.fatquartershop.com/Pennsylvania-Dutch-Block-of-the-Month.asp

Now I am all about the Americana-RW&B color combo-OH yeah the Project House 360 BOM is being printed but not necessarily sewn at this time.

http://www.projecthouse360.com/bom2009.html

Now I am debating which one to do....Ok I got it.....

BOTH!

Oooooo the hubby left-time to place an order-or two!

This & That

3 weeks since my last post? Cannot be possible...where has the time gone, oh yeah-work. That necessary evil that allows me to support my addiction (fabric) and pay the gazillion dollars I owe in student loans-what was I thinking going back to college 20 years after high school????

Not much sewing going on here for various reasons. I am still recovering from the 10 day/bi-annual visit of our 11 year old nieces!

I will start that 2 years ago we took the then 9 years old girls for a week, I cried more than they did-it was horrible-I felt so inadequate. I took vacation time while they were here, we planned all these day trips and had great activities planned we were excited....

Went to Hershey Park for the day (5 people-not cheap) only to learn that the girls do not like amusement rides-so while the hubby and the son or me and the son sought our thrills the other adult had 2 feet firmly planted on the ground with 2 pouty young ladies.

Went to Penn's Cave, bought tickets only to learn that one or the other didn't like boat rides or bus rides.....got my money back on that one luckily.

Went to a swimming pool with slides and water sprays and cool stuff to find that one didn't like getting their head wet. We sat on the blanket and she pouted while my son and the other had a grand time.

They are allowed to stay up past a decent hour and`1 sleep til noon-at that time we lived in a ranch house with our bedroom right off the living room and Hannah Montana at 1AM is NOT COOL to me!

Then there was the cool Aunt Shelly saying I would buy them an outfit for school....ended up at the Limited Too-because they are picky dressers and they would defiantly find something there.....can I saw that was almost as much as a student loan payment!!

So that was 2 years ago.....This trip had some thought into before they got here-laugh I know the best laid plans....

This year I did not take any time off-the hubby wanted to do this and he is retired so he could schlep them all over and not have them like it. We would do bigger things on the weekends, together. During the week they would do day trips and cheap activities.

I also planned the menu around exactly what they would eat-we had a LOT of steak those few days.

We established some ground rules about bedtime, behavior and language right off the bat.

So we started off good-hadn't seen them in a few months, how is everyone, do they like their new school, was your summer good....then they spotted my sewing toys-OMG don't you know THEY LOVE TO SEW!!!

My husband got all gushy-awww-look you can be their mentor as you would a daughter(not even closely related duh? As if!)....I grudgingly opened up my sewing toy shop-laying out a few ground rules:

1. Not buying anything-so whatever we decide to do has to be from the stash and something they could work on while I was at work-figured this would give the hubby a break during the day.
2. I had to approve the fabric they wanted to use
3. They could not just use the toys-I approved what they used on what IE Gingher scissor must NEVER EVER TOUCH Paper!

We decided on raiding my stash of 4" squares and making pillows. Easy enough. OK a headstrong 11 year old on a sewing machine scared the HELL out of me! I corrected her finger placement a million times then finally decided I couldn't watch and if she sewed her finger than at least she would learn....even the scissor usage was painful to watch.

So after an evening of sewing squares together one decides that they don't really like sewing and the other decides it is too hard and needs a break...2 days later they want to know when am I going to finish their pillows-uh never...you wanted to do this you finish them.

Heartless? May seem that way but what you don't know is that during the two days it took them to make that request, the hubby and I had been following them around picking up glasses of table tops, wet towels off bedding, wet towels off carpet, wet towels off wet towels, throwing away half eaten items, gathering shoes from all over, closing doors, closing the refrigerator, shutting off lights, reminding that we don't call each other names, you must take turns on the video games, being anti-social in public with arms crossed is UNACCEPTABLE-don't go or stay in the car, No you CANNOT be online after I go to bed.....

After about a million re-threads on the machine (the ghetto machine NOT the Viking!) Exasperated-I finished putting them together. At the end of the visit we had 2 cute pillows somewhat made by them-only 1 twin agreed to having her picture taken-this would be the professional pouter niece.

That is how the visit was sewing related-the rest of the drama and the reason I will NOT do that again for AT LEAST another 2 years is not for this blog. I did walk away with a DEEP appreciation for having only 1 child with the bonus being his MALE gender! They are great young ladies-just moody 11 year old girls who have different rules than at my house which results in being allowed to do more grown up things.

Whew!

The drama did not end yet with this quilt! Can you believe it??!!
I found a piece of batting that was exactly the right size if I were to not use the quilt frame.

I decided to just do one diagonal line in the plain white blocks to maintain the flow of the triangle blocks. I used a red chalk pencil to mark the diagonals. When I tested it the line rubbed right out with warm water as directed. So I layed it out on the floor and safety pinned it-picked it up to find a pucker deep enough to LOOSE the BABY in!! So unpin we go...the next round of pinning I taped the backing to the floor with painter's tape. Worked perfectly!

The diagonal sewing was uneventful as was putting on the binding. The additional drama came when I went to gently rub out the RED marks on the WHITE blocks-I know, I know just the idea should have been a red flag! They DIDN'T RUB OUT!! Let me tell you my husband heard me cussing words he has never heard me say! I was angry and had no clue what to try....Mom was here so that we could attend the Hershey show and suggested just putting it in the washer with warm water. I had nothing further to loose. Thank you Mom because it worked!

It is finally done and headed to NY tomorrow!!

Hershey or BUST!

For one day only Hershey is good for something other than the obvious, CHOCOLATE and outlet shopping...today the Quilt Odyssey is in town and I cannot wait to get to the Merchant Mall! I don't think this year's shopping will be as cool as last year-Hubby went with me and authorized the purchase of my amazing Sapphire 870. The Hubby is not going, he has opted to go to Harry Potter at the IMAX/3D theater with Zach and Poppa. Mom and I are on our own. Not a bad thing but the pocket book won't be as plentiful.

The Thangles quilt is quilt and has the binding sewn to the front waiting to be hand sewn. THANK GOODNESS-have you ever had one that did not go away to the completion pile? This one has been that for me and will be glad to see it land with it's new owner. In the end it turn out very nice, thank goodness despite all the issues I have had with it.

Not liking this quilt......

I ran out of backing-so off to Verna's (no complaints there) got the backing, decided on how to quilt it, decided to not use the variegated King Tut thread (have NO clue what to use that on now), had to buy white thread, loaded it on the frame got 1/2 through to learn that I was running out of batting!! UGH! Decided that I didn't want to run all the way to Williamsport for batting so I trekked to Wal Mart thinking that they had to have a packaged cotton batt-NOPE only polyester. Darn-all is on hold until tomorrow when I will have to visit Williamsport. I think I will buy a twin batt just to tuck away in case of emergencies.

All was not lost, I opened my Jo Ann Fabrics Bohemian block of the month and cut out the other 4 block pieces. I like the "Sunflower" block so I bought 1 kit and fat quarters of all the colors to make 3 more blocks for a simple wall hanging. Then I hit my ruler with the rotary cutter, chipped the blade and the ruler-set everything down and took a nap! I could not get a head today!

I hope everyone elses sewing went better today!

Next weekend is the Quilt Extravaganza in Hershey-SOOOO excited!

***I FOUND A PIECE OF BATTING THAT WORKS-BARELY!! NO ROOM FOR SHIFTING ON THIS BUGGER!!!

Don't you hate that??!!

Don't you just hate it when you buy what you need for a project only to get to a point and realize that you don't have enough fabric!! UGH!

I was asked to make a baby quilt as a gift. So we decided on a pattern (see a post in April about a Gazillion 1/2 square triangles) and away I went-construction was delayed due to the Boy Scout quilt but all was together this weekend. It took me HOURS to pick the triangle paper off the back so that it would press nice and flat. An off note-for picking the paper off the back-the Triangle Paper was much easier than the Thangles Paper.

Yesterday I came home from work ready to load everything on the quilt frame only to find that I did NOT have enough backing! UGH-kick scream cuss.....Daggone it. What I think happened because the one thing with quilting that I am really good at is the Math-is that I did not count for the 8 extra inches I need on all sides to load it on the frame. Right now if I chose to quilt it on my machine, not on the frame, I would have enough backing, but not enough to load it on the frame.

The bright side is that I now have a reason to treck out to Verna's on Saturday! I love Verna's and need to justify a reason for going otherwise I go without focus and BUY just randomly! Which is great but I am trying to stick to finishing what I have stuff for already.

Hopefully Saturday I can get this loaded and quilted. Part of my crazy thread purchase was a pastel variegated one that is intended for this-I want the quilting to be subtle so that the blocks stand out. I am thinking ABC's We will see. In the mean time I have some thangle BOM's to catch up on and the Debbie Mumm BOM to do-I just got the next 3 blocks on Monday. I am really liking these colors.

This is a random picture I took while in Chicago-I am standing inside "The Bean" looking up-very cool.

99% Finished

My disclaimer: I said that my goal was too ambitious on the Boy Scout quilt for my Dad. I had good intentions-enough said-here is the tale....

Saturday as I was packing the Hubby and the Son for Boy Scout camp I realized that the son has been wearing the same 3 pairs of shorts because nothing else fits or is "dress", the sweatpants were 3" too short (I swear I JUST bought those!) and we needed bug spray and toothpaste. So off we went-how hard in June will it be to find pull on shorts in size 8-PLAIN....Just about impossible! JCPenny, Sears, Macy's, WalMart, The BonTon, Dick's Sporting goods, Old Navy, etc....na da! I avoided The Gap because of the price but as we were walking buy I popped in quick expecting to still be empty handed....would not be the case-there they were-plain, not denim, pull on shorts-they were perfect Rip Stop Nylon, drawstring everything-then I looked at the tag-$18 a PAIR!! Daggone-oh well. We bought 3 pairs - never did find a pair of sweat pants but we did get packed finally!

Essentially there was no sewing on Saturday-still a border to add, quilting to be done, binding to be bought and cut and then sewn....already behind the 8 ball.

The boys had to meet the rest of the Pack at 2 so we spent a lazy morning together and at 2 off they went-I was alone! Just me and the dog. I hated to head home and just sit when I had 2 days alone (hubby came and went from camp-alternated with Poppa) so off to JoAnn's I went. I never get to just wander and look-I always have people in the car waiting for me to get exactly what is on my list and leave! It was nice-they carry the BSA fabric and had one that would do for the binding. $100 later (after coupons!) I left for Wegman's grocery store and dinner-love their grilled veggies!

That night I got the borders on the quilt and the backing loaded on the frame. At 11PM I gave up and went to bed. Monday night I got everything loaded and started quilting. Did not go well....the thread coming off the cone got caught on something pulling the needle off center and it chipped my free motion foot causing a burr which the thread got caught in as I was stippling. I fixed the thread-modified it's path and used a paring knife to fix the burr because I could not find a file-which resulted in me putting said paring knife into my finger tip-YES there was swearing....Eventually I had it figured out and away I went. At 1 AM with about 3-4 passes left, I went to bed.

Tuesday night I finished the quilting and got the binding cut and sewn on-not hand sewn over to the back. I was able to hand sew about 1/4 of this that night. So although it is not done done, it is together and awaiting hand attention. I took it with me to show Dad-he likes it and was not expecting it.

The matching quilt for Zach is still in single blocks and will need to wait until after the pastel 1/2 square triangle and a potential wall hanging wedding gift-not part of the 6 year gift previously mentioned.

A finish!!

WAHOO!!! The 5+ year project is quilted! All that I have left to do is the binding-actually FIND the fabric that will become the binding. At the beginning of the year I make a list of things to do this year-this was a huge one on that list. I don't really remember what is on it-uh oh. I will have to go back and check it out.

While quilting this I was using King Tutt brand thread and ran out 2 passes from the end! I had purchased the thread while on vacation in North Carolina so there was no way to "run" any where and get another spool. I found a place online and of course I am not going to order just 1 spool of thread for a $6 shipping fee-No I ordered 5! $52 later I had what I needed to finish my 2 passes and then some!

The BSA Fabric quilt is almost a top-I have the borders to put on but an not sure what I want to do there....not much time to decide since I want this on the frame Friday night and off Saturday afternoon for binding and ready to go Sunday at noon....yeah I don't think I will make it either but you always have to be ambitious. Keep you posted!

No fancy blog titles-that part kills me. I can sit here and have at it with the key board but to come up with a catchy title is beyond my blogging ability.

I didn't realize that there was such a lack of posts-a whole month! I have been quilting so it has not been because of nothing to show.

This past month I decided to make some special Boy Scouts their own special Boy Scout quilts. I had seen things made from the fabric line in numerous magazines but have limited access locally to see something like that in a quilt store. So I bought a fat quarter bundle online and thought a turning twenty was in the works. Really what else is there for 20 fat quarters.....While in NC at Easter I visited a JoAnn's Super Craft Center-those stores are awesome! They sell furniture for Pete's sake. While there I saw some of the Kauffman fabric at Joann's (OF ALL THE PLACES!). So I bought a couple yards of the blue with the numbers down the side and the piece that has all the merit badges on it-actually after searching for a SPECIFIC merit badge on it I have discovered that they are NOT all represented.

Once back I decided that I didn't want to do a turning twenty-just not exciting enough for the fabric. So I flipped through some books and magazines, you know we all have them in piles and piles, and found a Floating Square block that is in a Layer Cake book I have bought during my Atlanta trip.

So off I go with my 20 fat quarters and my floating square block pattern. I needed 35 blocks for each quilt (x2) and could get about 4 out of each fat quarter-SWEET! So the adventure began....I cut and cut and cut, then I sewed and sewed and sewed, then ironed, ironed and ironed, the sewed and sewed and sewed.....you get the picture. What I left out is cutting apart my chain piecing each morning while waiting with Zach for the bus. He was great at sorting them back into coordinator fabric piles for me.

Finally last weekend I completed all the blocks and am ready to put them into rows and so forth. But the internal deal with my self is that I can get nothing done beyond the ROW stage until my brother's 6 year old wedding quilt is quilted and off the frame-mind you no mention of when the binding will go on.....

Production on the BSA quilts ceased on Saturday and quilting began on the 6 year old. I bought a spool of King Tutt thread in NC because I had heard great things about it online and was having trouble with looping and thread breaks. So I loaded the Tutt on the machine and away we went-AMAZING the difference the thread made-no broken threads and if I didn't move the machine down the frame too fast, there are no loops! So back and forth I went-it is a queen size so there were quite a few trips. I can see the leader cloths coming around the roll bars when suddenly no thread-literally 2 passes left to finish and I ran out of thread! UGH!

Once again the 6 year old is just sitting waiting for the postman to deliver the thread.

The update on my MBIII is that there isn't one. The one I made arrived safe and sound to it's new owner but the one I should have gotten is no where to be found and no word on what happens next. I have emailed the moderator of the swap but have not heard anything back-very not like her so life must be very busy which is understandable-to a point.

I guess the swaps are cool in theory but how to make adults follow through with their commitment to a perfect stranger? I deal with people not full filling their commitments every day and they are not even strangers! Oh well.

We are in Chicago this weekend doing the touristy thing-take care!
Shelly

MBIII Received!

My apologies to Sharon for not reading my comments and realizing that she received my MBIII swap on the 7th. She likes it and is so kind about the dish towel.

I am still anxiously awaiting mine-for those that know me they have got to be laughing because I do not like surprises-love presents but don't like not knowing. I do better when I am surprised.

Happy Mother's Day

Not much sewing going on lately due to job and soccer commitments. Zach is doing well so far in soccer. We finally convinced him to open his stride and he would be able to run faster and further. The child is all legs and does this Scooby-Doo running thing-yeah Scooby-Doo was the influence-he is a DIE HARD FAN! Last weekend the coach placed him in the goal-scared me crazy! My baby laying on the ground with the ball under his body and the feet of the other children flying towards him. I literally had to leave for the concession stand. He loved it and was not afraid at all-despite my fear I am proud.

My partner received my Miniature Booty Swap III, per the USPS tracking system. I can't wait to hear how she liked it. I have yet to receive one-I am on pins and needles to see what my quilty partner created for me!

My brother and sister-in-law's quilt is about 1/2 done and still on the frame. I am loving the King Tut thread-not the price tag especially since locally I will have to buy it online. The spool that I am using is one that I bought from Loving Stitches in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Then on the sewing table it a Confetti 1/2 square triangle project-the one I tested the like and dislike of Triangle Paper versus Thangles. The cutting table has numerous projects-I have seen a few blogs with lists that run along the side of "to do" projects-I would love to do something like that but the list would run a hundred pages. I digress-on the cutting table are my Boy Scouts of America fat quarters waiting for my time to turn into them into two lap quilts for my favorite scouts-Dad and Zachary.

The best project on the cutting table are my Paper Dolls! I was lucky enough to find the elusive Paper Doll fabric at Ben Franklin Crafts in Montoursville. They don't have the complimentary pieces but they do have the big dolls and the clothes! I will be making this for myself. I loved paper dolls as a child and had quite the collection. They included Betsy McCall, the Walton children and the Gingham Girls. Sadly my shoebox of paper treasures were lost along the path of life. This is perfect for me-plus it will add some girl to this masculine testosterone driven house that I live in!

A bit behind with blogging

It has been a while since I posted and there has been some quilty things going on so here we go...

The MBIII hosted by the Quilting Pirate is on it's way along with the matching dish towel. Looking at the other blogs-my dish towel is sad sad sad....I had no idea and faced such a creative block when faced with that project. Anxiously awaiting my MBIII package!

My parents came down fro m Upstate NY (the real upstate ate-not just Albany) for Easter weekend. Like last year we bribed the boys (Dad , Hubby and Son) with a trip to Miller Smorgasbord if they would accompany us to Lancaster. Which of course would include a quilt store stop, or two.

We wanted to visit Sauder's but they had a death in the family and were closed that weekend-mom and I regrouped and headed to Brubakers. Last year we LOVED it and wanted to buy bunches. This year we walked in , around and out-hmmmm. The boys had a nice nap, which my husband informed me he took only because he could not get a signal on his Blackberry-he had no choice but to nap. Yeah right!

We left Brubakers and headed to The Old Country Store-well if you have a chance to go to the Lancaster area be sure to stop in this little town to not only visit this shop but the pottery shop, P. Buckly Moss Gallery, the little gift shops and the Kitchen Kettle Village!!! I found Triangle Paper at The Old Country Store-I have heard about it and seen it online but an too thrifty (cheap) to order it online without truly knowing what it's purpose. I bought finished 2" paper - thinking this would be a good test size having just used 2" finished Thangles for my MBIII quiltlett.

While in the little village of Intercourse-some day the 9 year old will find it funny-there was gift shop that showcased a quilt blowing in the breeze that was absolutely amazing . It is called Star Spin-amazing. I was determined to find the pattern or stand there long enough burning it to memory. A few shop stops later tucked in a corner and marked $5 was the PATTERN!!! Eureka! I will do one of these as it is stunning-here is an example: http://www.amishcountrylanes.com/Pages/hs118.shtml.

After that the boys were at their limit and we had to go feed them and head home-that and it was 6PM.

Saturday Mom and I went to Our Gathering Place so that I could pick up my months of BOM and then to Verna's. We found fabric at Verna's to put together a little something something that would test the Triangle Paper vs. the Thangles all for a mere $40. You have just GOT to LOVE Verna! While there I found that she had the Zippity Doo Dah line, so I picked up some 1/2 yard pieces of what she had-for what you ask....who knows.

That night we cut out our Verna's fabrics and tested the two products-for onsie twosies we like the Thangles but for bunches and bunches we like the Triangle paper.
After Easter weekend the hubby, kid and I headed to NC for the week-more on that the next blog.
Hope all is well in blog land-

Realization.....

The pre-story......I bought a new sewing machine last summer because after 14 years I wanted more features-stitches actually. The plan with the new machine was that some day I would buy a frame and put that on it and keep my 310 to piece on....well I LOVE the new machine. I love the features, I love the quiet, I love the size, just love it love it love it......SO I think that I will just move the machine back and forth from the frame. Yeah Right-sounded good though didn't it. In the mean time I gave the 310 to my step daughter. So I felt bad for not using my frame so I loaded the new machine on the frame, got quilt loaded, was ready to go and realized that I had forgotten the kitchen towel for the MBIII! I was afraid that if I took the machine off the frame I would postpone using it even longer than I have already. What was a quilter in desperate need to piece to do?????

BUY A NEW MACHINE! I thought about this for all about 10 seconds-just something simple, forward and backwards-Wal Mart surely will be able to fulfill my need for less than $100 (my limit without asking permission-and did I truly want to run it by the hubby???? Not so much). So I come home with a Singer Simple (yeah he noticed but has yet to say much 10 stitches all for $97!! Well a little bit more because of course I had to buy bobbins and needles that would fit.

I am excited now I can keep the new machine on the frame and still have something to piece with-a quilter's dream right????!!! NOPE!

I am a SEWING MACHINE SNOB and I want to piece on my Sapphire and I still want a Long arm on my frame (Bailey-waiting for Cowgirl Quilter to give feedback)!

The Singer is noisy, the needle does not go up and down on it's own, I have yet to find where I can get a 1/4 foot for it, what is up with the strange way the feet attach, it does not automatically cut the thread, it does not go as fast (sure sounds like it is speedy).......My hubby even commented on the loudness of it....oh well.

It is serving a purpose and so far it pieces quite nicely but this will be short term! The drive to save my $$ for the Bailey is heightened! Hurry on the reviews!

PS-this is not intended to offend any Singer sewing machine users-I am a Viking/Husqvarna type of girl. Apologies.

MB III Finish

I got into the blogging thing because I wanted to participate in a swap. I have participated in 3 so far and the 4th one in process as we speak. To date the requirements were just to produce a good quality quilt somewhat following your secret partner's likes and dislikes. This current one-The Miniature Booty Swap 3-is requiring that you complete a dish towel too-I am SOOO hung up on this part! Drawing a complete blank on how to approach this or even complete this task. UGH! I have done a basic search on the Internet and still have no clue.

I am outside my comfort zone on this and it is struggle. I am working through this mental block in that I bought the dish towel and might have a plan as to what I might put on it-might.

No Quilting Here

Can you tell that my week of making sure the hubby didn't fall face first down the stairs is over? Yup I regretfully headed back to work last week and my sewing has suffered. Because not only did I head back to work, my boss was out, and my hubby can't drive so I had to be Manager and Taxi Driver. Normally we split the week night duties-but I have them all until the 6th of April-oh please please be the day the neck brace comes off! Now mind you I am the one who signed the boy up for all these activities, so I truly have no one to blame but myself but my goodness he is busy!

Monday is Drama-not too bad we pick him up from school at 4:30, Wednesday is Basketball from 6-7:30, Thursday is Cub Scouts from 6:30-7 but we live 1/2 hour away so there is an hour driving time on that one and Saturday is Basketball again ranging from 4 to 5:30 start time and lasts 90 minutes....does seem so bad you say, only 3 nights a week you say....normally I would agree with you except the hubby is not driving so add into that running back and forth from work to taxi him to eyeglass appointments, surgeon follow up, general practitioner appointment, the dog got a tick have to go to the vet appointment, "honey I ran out of coffee creamer and we need milk (WE NEED A COW) stop after work" errand, damn-didn't I just put gas in this car like two days ago errand.....Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out.....

I am spoiled-I like my quiet time on Thursday evenings-I get to sew while I watch the House Wives on Bravo. I get a blissful 90 minutes a week ALONE! So when my MIL called and said that she had a doctor's appt could her son drive her-she forgot he was in a brace and can't drive-I volunteered! She has had some liver ailments and the closest specialist to her is in Rochester NY-2 hrs from her house. She had never driven (yeah don't understand that either but hey) and my FIL is 80 and certainly should not be driving 2 hrs especially on the NY thruway! There are other siblings within a few blocks from their house-but we won't go into that this post-not enough time in the day. Plus the best part was that I would be able to see my parents (they live in the same town) and I haven't seen them since CHRISTMAS! I was so in need of the hugs only parents can give! So last Sunday I headed up to NY-I stopped at the Joann Fabrics in Dickson City-are they going out of business or had my mind romanticized how awesome that store was?? I then wandered up I81 enjoying the bright sunny day and honking at the vehicles driving bye with "GO SU" on the windshields. I was slightly north of Syracuse when I saw it...piles and patches of SNOW!!! UGH! Reaffirmed why I am slowly but surely moving south, so that the snow season is short, sweet and always remains pretty!

My visit with my parents was short but just enough to get me through to Easter weekend. I did go see my mom's new office and walked in to find my own quilt show going on-that was really neat. She had one hanging that I forgot about-cool. Thanks Mom.

My day trip with my MIL was nice also-I have known her since 2002 and been married to her oldest son for 3 years-in all that time I have NEVER had more than a 15 minute conversation with her. Stop gasping-there are 6 kids in that family so when ever I did see her to have a conversation with her, there were 5 other families which bring with it up to 9 other grand kids, needy sons and daughters. Plus my last MIL experience was NOT a good one-I think she secretly hated me-not enough time for that here either! I was a bit nervous about spending 5 hours alone with her but you know what-it was great! I had a great conversation and found that although I thought I liked her-I truly do! It was nice and I would do it again.

This weekend is somewhat packed with the FINAL basketball game and the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby-but tomorrow, so far, has no plans. This is good because I have to research making a dishtowel to accompany my MBIII wall hanging.

Take care and enjoy the sunshine!

Shelly

Nursing and Sewing

I have been home nursing the hubby after neck/spine surgery and have gotten a lot of sewing done while he has napped. I was able to finish the daggone stained glass wall hanging and now it joins the "to be quilted" pile. I was going to then start my Miniature Booty Swap III wall hanging but found that I had no appropriate fabric-I was stunned and had to look twice to make sure-nope nothing. Well that meant a little bit of Internet shopping was in order. I found the perfect fabrics at the Fat Quarter Shop and of course their service was impeccable-ordered on Monday in my hands on Thursday!

Ok so the MBIII was out as a project-what to do-Ohh I know, I know-my thangles Buck a Block of the Month. So out it came and was done in 15 minutes-the hubby was still sleeping so I had to find something to do.

So I moved on to my Debbie Mumm block of the month blocks. This one might actually do the trick as I waited for my FQS order to arrive. I got out the fabrics and directions-cut all the strips out and moved forward. I got one block done, moved to the 2nd block only to find that I cut one of the fabrics wrong!! Ugh-back to the Internet to buy a replacement piece. So now what....I rented Australia and made do with that.

Today I got my FQS order - I got that all cut out, sat down at the sewing machine to discover that I have NO WHITE thread-I have a zillion shades of off-white, tan, beige, ecru....but no pure, clean , snow white! Crazy. Must be why I stopped on my snowflake table runner-I need white to sew the snowflakes on the top of the pieced top.

So once again I have hit the quilted wall-after the kid is done with Cub Scouts We will be stopping at Walmart for white thread.

Better luck tomorrow with the sewing plans!

**Stopped at WalMart after Cub Scouts-head to the craft department, stand in front of the thread case and GASP! The white thread is empty! Empty I tell you! There is winter white, off white, ecru but no plain old, snow pure white! UGH! Then I notice the "specialty" thread-the skies opened up and the angels sang-there was literally ONE spool left. I grabbed it-whew!

Stained Glass Wall Hanging

McCall's Quick Quilt had a stained glass wall hanging in it's November 2008 issue which I though would be amazing displayed on this large bare white wall in the dining area of the great room. I have been hanging on to my 3 Sisters fabric from Moda for a while now and thought they would be beautiful in this wall hanging and the colors would compliment our furniture.

So as you may have read earlier the Pre-sew process was trace, cut, iron, cut again, place and iron again. Whew-I was bored at that point. Little did I know it would get WORSE! After you iron all the shapes on the background you have to outline ALL the pieces with the fusible bias tape-yeah all freaking 108 pieces! Not even the worst part-after fusing the bias tape you have to EDGE Stitch it along both sides! I have literally used an entire spool of black thread on the bias tape alone! So what started out as enthusiasm faded to boredom has now settled into talking myself into NOT relegating the darn thing to the UFO pile! I am down to the final 2 strips of horizontal bias binding. I like it and think it turned out really neat. I will however NEVER be doing another stained glass'esque anything AGAIN!

It will be a little bit before I can load it on the frame to quilt it because I need to piece my Miniature Booty Swap III quilt before I tie the machine up on the frame.

Quilting, quilting, quilting....

I got to sew this weekend! It was wonderful! Due to my self inflicted sewing exile to study-I have not sewn since Christmas! I did sneak in a quick table runner but that didn't count because it was a stress break versus and real sewing opportunity. Saturday I got to get to work on my stained glass wall hanging and made great progress. As I was working I was uncertain about my color choices but as it came together I am quite pleased and excited to see it hanging on my wall. I will tell you though that all those pieces were quite annoying to me-trace, iron on fabric, cut them out again, fuse on the main blocks, machine applique.....on and on and on. I will re-think a project like this again-SO FAMILY THAT READS THIS-when you see my beautiful wall hanging-NO YOU CANNOT have one too-sorry I cannot subject myself to such monotony again! ;) Although I would gladly loan my wall hangings for a small fee-gotta save for that frame exclusive machine somehow.

I did have an opportunity to pick up the Thangles BOM that my local quilt shop is having this year. I chose the fall colors-it is one block a month versus the past 2 years which were 6 smaller blocks a month. I had a hard time keeping up-lol-I still am sitting on about 4 months of the batik paper pieced quilt. OH well, add it to the list! Can you believe that I had to buy 1.75" Thangles?! Gasp! Those who know my quilting style-I DO NOT LIKE or CONDONE Gadgets and Gizmo's. So for me to buy a Thangle it truly is an event-and shhh don't tell but I LOVE them and now have them in every size available! After 9/11 Mom wanted something patriotic for her office wall. So we saw a picture in a magazine and recreated the wall hanging. The daggone thing had a gazillion 1/2 square triangles in a variety of reds and whites-I made 1/2 square triangles for DAYS! I hated them by the time I was done. Two years ago I bought a Jack-O-Lantern kit that used 5" Thangles-WHERE WERE THESE THE YEAR I WAS DOING THOSE FLAG WALL HANGINGS!! I used them again for tree skirts and now the list goes on and on and on-no more 7/8's for me!

Well shopping in Atlanta was not successful in terms of the shopping list-it was successful for other stuff!! I did a nice little 2 hour road trip after my meetings on Thursday. I travelled to a cute shop in Conyers, GA called Sweet Home Quilt Co. It was real cute and had a nice assortment of wools. I didn't find anything on my list but I ended up with the Little Miranda bag pattern and some Moda fabric for the bag.

The next stop was in Marietta, GA at Tiny Stitches. This shop had a great variety of patterns but I will admit I suffered from sticker shock. The patterns and books were reasonable but holy cow-$4 for a fat quarter-I was afraid to look at an entire bolt. That certainly didn't stop me from buying-I got a Layer Cake book and a roll of fat quarters that are Coffee themed and crazy brown, cream and blue colors-I love them! I picked them out of a sale bucket!

The final stop was Red Hen Fabric-too cute! it is a bright red building with a quilt painted on the side. Inside it is jammed packed with fabrics, books and gadgets. It was nice to wander through and see all the colors-I would have liked to been inspired to pick out a project but my commitment list of 2009 was nagging me so I refrained.....darn!! I did walk away with 2 fat quarter which cost me $4 total!!

Sunday's Super Bowl was GREAT-4 HOURS of uninterrupted sewing time!! I got all the pieces cut out for my stained glass wall hanging-what in the world was I thinking!! There are 8 stained glass looking blocks-each with 4 pieces-then there are another 8 blocks with pieced centers-UGH! Not only ironing them on to the fusible web, but then cutting them out and then sewing the 3/4 in strips together! The cherry on the top was having to order the Clover Fusible Quick Bias Binding-jeese $42 later! Oh well-it will be beautiful and well worth it when I am done-hopefully in this lifetime. ;)

I have joined, and been accepted in, Toni's Miniature Booty Swap 3. This time around we will be creating for our partner's kitchen. I have some ideas and think that I bought the perfect fabric in Nags Head last summer-now where could I have put it when I organized everything.....hmmmm.

Ahhh Sunshine and Warmth....

Nope I am not on vacation but darn close! I am in Atlanta GA on a business trip-I know-coming from Central PA by way of Upstate NY, this is a mini-vacation! I always make sure that I rent my own car and bring Judith (Garmin Nuvi) because you never know when the meetings will not run as long as expected and you can find yourself Quilt Shop Hopping! I have a list ready and Judith programed just in case. Although if the weather at home doesn't improve I am staying here! It is 56 degrees and overcast in downtown Atlanta! A far cry from ice, snow, ice and no school! Poor Zach-school at least distracts him so that he is not focused on that fact that I am not there. Scott might have to step up and hand over the remote control and allow it to be on a kid friendly channel (CNN Junkie!!) otherwise he will have a sad boy on his hands. Apparently the dog is having a rough time. She keeps looking at the doors and listening for the garage door-the morning report said that she barked at anything yesterday. Poor baby-nope I have not left her in the year we have had her. If I did leave her she was boarded at her favorite Puppy Hotel so she didn't miss us.

My goals for quilt shop excursions are:

• Henry Glass Buggy Barn Cafe Mocha-I want to see the colors before purchasing
• Left Overs of the Moda Christmas line with the Ball Ornaments-I will know it when I see it.
• I want a deep red with an ivory print on it that does not have people or farm animals plus a tone on tone red to match
• Fabric for a quilt for my nephew (Hi Seth!) no idea what theme another thing that I will know when I see it.

No other goals just to wander and look-oh yeah I WANT the French Roses pattern by Heather French or the Quilt Pink book that it was featured in.

For Mom

Mom-this is the Green color in the snowflake table runner:
Not sure the picture does it justice-sorry.

Quilty Shopping Day!

Saturday in Central PA saw nice, warmer, blue sky weather-finally above the teens-although I guess Friday was too but with the Migraine I never noticed being passed out from pain. So I had to meet a friend in Mifflinburg (11AM) to pick up my Pampered Chef order (love the stuff-can't believe there is anything I don't have) and for anyone who knows the area you can't go to Mifflinburg and not swing over to see Verna! The bad part is 1/2 was to Verna's I remembered I had no checkbook nor cash-so a right I took thinking I could take another right and end up back on main street....you would have thought. 20 minutes later I find an ATM and start again.

Verna's was PACKED!! Holy Cow-I have never not been able to park in her parking lot-we parked on the street I was crazy. Poor Zachary set foot inside saw all the ladies and decided that he would wait in the car. My mission at Verna's was to pick up a backing for a quilt I need to do-I had heard that she sold backings cut in one piece-no seams! Now they are either white, cream or black so if you want a fancy fabric it is not for you but if you just want a utilitarian back this will work. Of course that was not all I bought-I got the chalk pounce, a refill and the neatest purple flowered fabric. I am NOT a fan of purple but I thought this would look striking with white-just the 2 colors.

I do have share that Zach did come back in to see how much longer I was going to be and to tell me that he had to Potty-Verna heard him and directed him to the "outhouse" - yup you heard it an OUTHOUSE! Zach asked what that was an I explained it was like the "blue potties" so off he went....when I go to the car he informed me that was the smelliest outhouse ever and next time he would hold it! I was contemplating using it but decided not to....

After Verna's we headed to Muncy to a Ben Franklin's. I had no idea this store existed! Friday night after clawing my way out of the migraine pain, and because I had slept 5 hours during the day and couldn't sleep, I was go online and looked for the wooden "plate" that fits on Grace and you use with the stylus. I found the "Popcorn" one I wanted and noticed it was being shipped from Muncy PA-ah why pay $20 shipping when I can drive up there. So that is how I found the Ben Franklin in Muncy-well Clarkstown actually. They had the plate in stock -hurray! I ALSO found the paper doll fabric and learned that in March they will have the completer pieces! I have been scouring the Internet for a place to buy these fabrics and just didn't want to pay 3 different places shipping. I am now the owner of 1.5 yds of the dolls and anxiously awaiting March to purchase the rest-PLUS if you bought more than a yard it was 25% off!!

From there we found a bathroom and some snacks (1:30) and headed to Our Gathering Place in Montoursville. Zach informed me last week the following: "Mom I need a quilt that fits" "What do you mean a quilt that fits" "LOOK!!" He pulls his bugging quilt up to his shoulders and points out that his toes stick out "I can't lay flat and be covered-STOP laughing at ME!" "Sorry Zach, I am not laughing at you, I am laughing at your toes sticking out" "UGH-never mind!!" I had set aside a pattern in a magazine that I thought would be easy to do for my nephew Seth who would like a quilt. I pulled it out and new that OGP had some cool dinosaurs fabric that he would like-yup he did. I also found a black fabric with a cream design on it-I want to do a dramatic black and cream with twisting ribbons.

I finally stopped and fed Zach-hit WalMart for groceries, by passed the craft department at Zach's instruction because I had looked at that ALL DAY! and home we headed. All in all a good day-cool to spend it with my kid.

Oh yeah I got Todd and Summer's 5 yr old wedding gift loaded on Grace....it is a start!