Animals All the Time!

I have been working on the Randolph & Rudy blocks.  They are just so fun to make.  Here are the three deer with striped sweaters.............. 

And the 3 bears with striped sweaters..........

Esme was on hand to supervise some of the cutting.  She enjoyed being in the sewing room without Mabel (who was in another "time outside" in the morning).

After lunch, Mabel managed to earn her way back inside and took over my sewing chair.

And the deer with trees on their sweaters came to life............

And the deer with the stars...........

And you remember the first bears with the sweaters that didn't contrast enough with the background...

I simply removed the heads and the pants and remade the sweaters.  I think this is a big improvement.  

I have the last set of sweaters and pants cut for the final bears.  I think it might be a bit tricky since the sweaters have candy canes on them.  We'll see how it goes.

I spent some time cleaning up the cutting table and putting scraps back in the project tub.  Mabel thought it was time to lend a paw..........

First she smashed the scraps into the project tub.

Then she held the completed blocks in place.

Then she must have decided the completed animals in the tub were lonely, so decided to join them........

And for those keeping track of the number of pieces, the 5 sets of completed bodies totaled 579 pieces.  If you add that to the total pieces for the heads, 792, we're up to 1371 in the blocks so far with only one set of bodies left to make.

I don't know if there will be time tomorrow to get the last 3 blocks finished, but hopefully they will be completed by the weekend.  Then I'll just have the sashing and border strips left to cut and set the whole quilt together.  I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Christi

Misbehaving Mabel

 

I don't know if Mabel is experiencing the terrible twos or she's reached her teenage years or what the deal is, but she just can't stay out of trouble.  She's just a few seconds from getting on the counter in the above picture.

And she has no concept of personal space.  Suffice it to say that she is spending a lot of her time in "Time Outside".  

Our shopping trip to Columbia went well.  We had lunch out with David's brother and sister-in-law.  I did a quick stop at the music store after we dropped stuff off at the Pork Producers office.  After lunch, we did the Goodwill drop off, then Joanns, Hy-vee, and Sams.  That was more than enough time out among the public.  

I did pick up this flannel plaid for backing for Bricks in the Barnyard.  It has been washed, pressed, and sewn together and is all ready to quilt.  This was such a soft fabric that I can hardly wait to work with it.

Below is the wide backing I purchased for the Orange Crush quilt.  I chose a wide back since it is 80" square and would take a lot of piecing to get a nice backing.

So now there are 2 things ready in the quilting closet.

I went back to working on the Randolph & Rudy quilt.  I completed these 3 Randolph blocks, but don't like how there is not enough contrast between the sweater and the background.  I am contemplating options as to whether to change the whole sweater, just the outside of the sweater, or what.  Of course, it is going to depend on fabric availability or possibly going in search of more fabric.  I know, you are on pins and needles as to what I will decide.  In the meantime, I have decided to work on another of the blocks while I'm contemplating.

Mabel (in a moment of good) passed the sewing time in Esme's sleeping spot by one of my sewing machines.

Stay tuned to see what becomes of the Randolph blocks that need some sweater fashion adjustment!

Christi

Just Keep Stitchin'

All the while I was sewing the t-shirts together for Sarah's quilt, I was making braids as leader/enders to use on this quilt, Bricks in the Barnyard. 

This is the second time I have made this quilt.  It is a Bonnie Hunter pattern and the first time I did it was at her workshop.  I again used scraps and did the solid color in red instead of the dark green in this one.  I backed it with flannel and it has been with either Carter or Jackson (nephews) ever since.  My sister says it's still a favorite in their house.  The dark green solids in this one are leftovers from the plaid quilt backing fabric.  It was nice to use up most of that.  It was also nice to get another UFO to the flimsy stage.

I was on such a roll with UFO's that I decided to pull out the leaves.  These were the block lotto block from guild last fall.  I didn't win, but the winner gifted them to me the following month.  There were 52 blocks (I had made 25 of them - one entry per block and I didn't win!).  The green one on the top of the pile is one I didn't make - note the really off center stem.  Oh well!  Every leaf is unique!

I am adding borders to each leaf in a churn dash pattern.  This will take them from 6" blocks to 12" blocks.  I'm hoping to get a quilt large enough for my bed for this fall.  After I completed 2 dozen, I put them away and went back to deer faces.

All of the Rudy heads are complete now.  I'm debating about what to work on next - am leaning towards the pants because they seem a little simpler than the sweaters and after the faces, something simpler would be nice.

We're off to Columbia today.  Have to drop something at the Pork Producers office, a couple of boxes to Goodwill, and go to Sam's.  We're meeting David's brother and sister-in-law for lunch.  I'm also hoping to stop at Joanns, Hobby Lobby, a quilt shop, the music store, and Hy-Vee.  Ok, realistically I won't make it long enough to do all of those, but there is a potential list of places to stop.  I do need a couple of quilt backings - Bricks in the Barnyard and Orange Crush.  We'll just see what the day brings.

Christi

It's Cold and T-Shirts

We are having some extremely cold temps right now.  This meant that Willow, Kinze, and Mabel all spent the night inside last night.  That's a lot of Willow and Mabel to contend with.  Cici is pretty good about putting everyone in their places, but Esme is not as dominating, so has been hiding out trying to stay away from everyone.  

I worked on the t-shirt quilt yesterday and today.  Mabel was on hand (so much so) to supervise.

Just look what you can find in the scrap tub!

I also got my Valentine's decor out.  There is not much, but I love this table runner.  So does Mabel.

Supervising so much can be exhausting............

And here is the t-shirt quilt.  I'll be taking it to Sarah's next weekend to see how it works on her bed.  She also needs to decide on what she wants for backing.

We made a trip to Sedalia this morning and took Willow with us.  We went to the self bathing dog salon and she got a much needed bath.  Of course, we had to drive through McDonalds to get her a cheeseburger on the way home.  Then she and Mabel lounged in the sunshine for the afternoon.  It's nice that she smells better.

 Well, it's nice to have the t-shirt quilt to the flimsy stage.  Now to turn my focus to something else.  I think next up will be the last two braided borders for the Bricks in the Barnyard quilt. 

Stay warm!

Christi

Never-ending T-shirts

 After mopping the kitchen floor and prepping everything for my charcuterie board (I forgot to take a photo of the finished board😞😞), I made my way to the sewing room to continue prepping t-shirts for Sarah's quilt.  It brought back lots of 4-H memories, but did get tiresome.

The second column of blocks was fused and trimmed...........

The third column had these 6 tiny logos that I was supposed to combine into one block (with approval from Sarah).  This is what I came up with.  I texted it to her and she did call to approve it.  I still have to fuse, trim, and then sew them together to create a block.

I did get all of the other blocks for the third column fused and trimmed.

And the fourth row was completed with some assistance from Esme.

I have the shirts for the remaining column fused, just waiting to be trimmed.  I'll be doing that and then working on turning the 6 little logos into a block.  After that it's just a matter of cutting the sashing strips and sewing everything together.  We're planning a trip to Sarah's on the 31st, so I'll have it done to the flimsy stage to take for her to look at and decide what she wants for a backing.

We went to the playoff party in the afternoon and yes, the Chiefs won! The charcuterie board was a big hit.  That was about my day.  Sunday has been church, and then doing bookwork for the church and paychecks for the community center.  And I've been keeping an eye on the football games.  REALLY hoping David's team loses this evening.  I don't want him in charge of the Super Bowl party next year.  Go Ravens!

Christi

P.S.  Tomorrow is a holiday, so several piano students have asked to move their lessons to tomorrow.  I'm up to 6 and then have bell choir rehearsal followed by bell choir rehearsal at another church where I'm filling in, so probably won't be posting tomorrow.

Crud Keeps On

 Sorry for no post yesterday, but since I spent most of the day Thursday either giving piano lessons or laying on the couch because of a sinus headache (and the worst runny nose I've ever had), there really wasn't anything to record or photograph (that you'd really want to see).

It was mostly like this all day..........

I'm guessing I didn't look that adorable when I was sleeping.  Fortunately, it kind of subsided in the late afternoon.  

Friday morning I was finally able to finish W-2's and 1099's.  They were delivered, picked up a few groceries at Walmart, another prescription, drove through the car wash, and finally got my hair cut.  I was 3 weeks over due and had trimmed my bangs twice myself.

After a nap, Mabel and I made our way to the sewing room.

She supervised from the sewing chair while I prepped Sarah's t-shirts for her quilt.  I was able to get the first column of shirts fused and trimmed.

If I zoom in on the picture above, you can see Mabel expressing her opinion.  Notice the gray tub precariously balanced on the stool behind her............right after I took this photo, she jumped in the tub which promptly tumbled to the floor with her in it.  

I'm hoping to get more of the shirts done today.  I have to make some things for the charcuterie board I am taking to the playoff party we're going to this afternoon.  Once the shirts are prepped, it's a pretty fast sew........................so, it's off to the sewing room!

Christi

A Little More Sewing

 Yesterday morning was spent on some housekeeping and laundry as well as kitchen time.  I made a brownie and jello and a delicious chicken and rice casserole for lunch.  Today will just be leftovers which is nice.

When I made it into the sewing room, I finished cutting the first 3 deer aka Rudy for the Randolph and Rudy quilt.  Then I started the sewing.  I had to do a little "surgery" on the ears as I used an incorrect piece at one point.  (This means I'm going to have to cut a few replacement pieces for future deer.)  

Each deer face has 51 pieces!  So add 153 to the current total.  Those little triangle pieces around the nose are almost microscopic!

Then, I decided to clean up the piles of fabrics and reorganize so that I might work on something else for a bit.

This stack of fat quarters arrived this week and I will be making the hashtag pattern for a new quilt for Sarah's bed.  I also went digging and found the background I want to use from my stash.  I set those aside too as my next plan is to work on her t-shirt quilt.  I was able to borrow a couple of very large rulers from a friend at quilt guild, so want to get that one underway.  I'll probably get started today in between piano lessons.  

I did have a little time for sewing last evening, so whipped up 2 pair of our block lotto blocks for January.  These were super easy after deer and bear faces.

I'll put these in the block lotto at the meeting in February.  Maybe I'll win all the blocks!  I doubt it.  I'm not good at "winning" this type of thing.  They were fun to make and a super easy sew after what I'd been working on.

Today is a busy one with lessons in the morning and afternoon.  We're also planning to go to a basketball game this evening, so there will be very little time for sewing.

It's supposed to warm up a little today and tomorrow so hopefully some melting will happen.

Christi