Jury Duty, Shadows, and Curling

 Well, let's get right to it!  I was eliminated from the pool of potential jurors.  I'm pretty sure it's because I have the prosecuting attorney's daughter as a piano student.  I talked with him at a ball game after the trial and he warned me that there are lots of things coming up on the court docket this spring and I'm in the pool until July!  I informed him that being on a jury is NOT on my bucket list and it would be fine with me if he settled cases out of court.  I am a little concerned about a change of venue trial that has been moved to our county because it won't be our local prosecutor, so I won't have the "piano student" excuse.  Time will tell.  I have notified the clerk's office about dates we will be out of town, so I know I won't be called then.

After spending several hours waiting to be eliminated, I was exhausted, but suddenly had nothing to do.  Another piano student's mom texted me and invited me to her cookie decorating class and I went.  It was so much fun and here are the cookies I decorated...............it was a dog theme.

And speaking of dogs.............

Look who joined Willow on her dog bed!  Actually, I think Esme was already asleep there and Willow came in and flopped down and then Esme was too frightened to leave.

Someone else was not happy about being shut outside.

Mabel is very good at holding down a chair.

Sometimes Harry joins her.

And sometimes he stretches out and claims the chair for his own personal napping spot.

But if you get really lucky, someone might leave their quilt in the chair and you can really snuggle in for a nice warm nap.

Of course, napping isn't the only thing they do............sometimes the laser light comes out and zooms around in the shadows and must be caught.

And sometimes you just need to go fishing!

And here is my latest quilt finish.  It's called Jimmy John, which I think is a stupid name for a quilt, but it was a free pattern, so I shouldn't complain.  It will be gifted to a young lady at church later this month.  

Well, the Olympics are underway (ok, the opening ceremonies are tomorrow).  We've already watched our first curling match!  Our US team has won both of their games so far.  We'll probably watch another this evening.  You know, seeing a live curling match or even trying curling IS on my bucket list.  

Christi

Bear with Me!

 Can you handle any more animal quilt block photos?  Well say hello to the bears!  This first one used Thimbleberries fabrics in red and green to make a bear paw (appropriate, right?) quilt.

This one did a log cabin block quilt.

And this one did a heart quilt with French General fabrics.

And all of the animal show and tell blocks are complete!  I have measured them and cut the sashings and border strips and have put them away for now.

Why is it when everyone is trapped inside by the cold snowy weather that everyone looks to me for food?  They're all just laying around sleeping, so how can they constantly be hungry?

Mabel resorted to hanging out on top of the piano.............

even during a piano lesson.  Apparently it was a good lesson as she went to sleep!

And Willow was chilling on her bed.

And my farmer was hard at work in the basement office.

As you read this, I may or may not be sitting in a jury box.  Hopefully NOT!  Time will tell.

Christi

Oh Deer!

The deer for the Show and Tell quilt are finished!   

This one loves Halloween, so made her quilt with Halloween prints.

This one went black and white........a more modern deer.

And this one used her favorite kitchen fabrics to make her quilt.

I had lots of supervision while I was making deer blocks.

How many cats does it take to fill a quilt project box?  

Those blocks they are sleeping on are going to be well pressed.

I got the binding finished on the Waverly quilt.

And I quilted the Jimmy John quilt.  I'm still working on the binding of this one.  It is going as a birthday gift at the end of February.

Believe it or not, there was nothing else hanging in the TBQ closet after Jimmy John.  That has since changed as I pulled out this block kit that came from an auction box of fabric.

I pieced the 2 turkey blocks and have since this photo made an addition star block to put in the middle and create a table runner.  Backing and binding are now hanging with it in the TBQ closet.

With all the extreme cold temps and snow, the outside pets have become inside pets.  This is how Willow has been spending her days.

With animals in and out, the floors in my house have become disgusting and are covered with dog and cat prints.  There was no school here yesterday or today either.  I have been summoned for jury duty and have to report tomorrow morning.  So in an attempt to not miss all of my Wednesday/Thursday piano students, I have done a marathon piano day with 10 lessons yesterday, 2 this morning, and 2 more this afternoon.  All that foot traffic hasn't helped the dirty floor issue either.  After the last student heads out the door this afternoon, I will be sweeping and scrubbing.  I've caught up the laundry, finished all the church and community center bookwork and tax documents, and hopefully all this prep work will be for nothing and I will NOT be picked for jury duty.  

I'm prepping another post for tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Christi

Show and Tell

This post is quite literally Show and Tell.............that's the name of the quilt pattern I've been working on by Elizabeth Hartman.

You may remember this bunny and her quilt made from scraps from a recent quilt.  

One of her bunny friends also finished a quilt for Show and Tell.  This was made from 4 patches from the 2" squares box.  And another friend made this flying geese quilt from batik scraps!

So here are all of the bunnies for the Show and Tell quilt...............

You may also remember this shy fox and her quilt made with a block from the Scrap Jar Stars block lotto blocks.

One of her equally shy fox friends made this patriotic quilt!

And another fox made this quilt from Civil War scraps.

Here are all three of the shy foxes with their quilts.

And here is the whole crew so far.............6 quilts done and 6 to go!  The deer and bears need to get to work on their quilts.

The only other things to show from the sewing room are the new block lotto blocks I made.  It is a disappearing four patch in blues and whites.  

And I quilted the Waverly quilt.  I'm still working on the binding.  I had a little extra help getting the batting loaded.

Mabel and Harry Potter had to go outside while I was quilting.  I'd feel sorry for them, except.......

They have a pretty cushy lifestyle...........

Shhh!  I think it's best to let them sleep.

Christi

 

Animal Takeover

 Animals have taken over my sewing room.

Yes, it's another Elizabeth Hartman pattern, Foxes in Flannels.  I have spent nearly 3 weeks working on the fox faces.  Finally, all 24 are finished.  There are 36 pieces in each face for those who are counting along.  That was all the cutting I had done for this quilt, but I was so thrilled to have the faces done that I got out the project box and cut the needed green backgrounds for the bodies (and I realized that I had already cut the paws and chins).  So then I started digging through the scraps to find shirt, undershirt, and jeans fabrics.  I cut for one fox and went right to the machine.  

Here he is!  Can I just say that the cutting takes 3 times the time that the sewing does.  Part of the issue is cutting the plaids to match.  Honestly, I probably wouldn't bother, but after reading the pattern and there being a whole page devoted to cutting so that the plaids would sorta match, I figured I better do it that way.

And for those who are still interested, there are 37 pieces in each body.  So I'll let you do the math, (36+37)x24 foxes...............???

A few more animals showed up to play in the sewing room.

One of them is rather shy (another fox!)

These are the first 2 blocks for another Elizabeth Hartman pattern called Show and Tell.  There is also a bear and I think there are only 9 of these, 3 of each animal, each with a different quilt.  I already had the little quilts done.  The one the fox is holding is actually a block from the block lotto blocks I won at quilt guild back in November.  It somehow came out a little smaller than all the others, so I just slapped a border on it and gave it to the shy fox for Show and Tell.  

The one the bunny is holding is made from scraps from 2 larger quilts I have been working on.  It's a little busy for my taste, but then, bunnies are busy little creatures, are they not?

Here's the first quilt that caused those scraps.  

I love this quilt.  I love the colors.  It comes from a line of fabric called Maple and the pattern is Proposal from the book O Happy Day.  I really love the pattern.  And I love the quilting pattern.  This was a new design that showed up on my tablet after I did the free upgrade to my quilting program in December.  I'll definitely use it again.

And of course, I put a couple of tags on the back!

And for the last animal reference, (I know, you've been expecting photos of LIVE animals!) I played "chicken" with a bolt of fabric.

That little sliver is all I had left after I cut what I needed for the back of the Waverly quilt I want to quilt next.  This might be taking "Waste Not, Want Not" a little too far.

I know, 2 blog posts relatively close together.  Don't get excited.  It will be a few days before there's another.  I have some major house cleaning to do and will be out and about on Tuesday and Wednesday, so there won't be much to show and tell about.

I hate to say it, but a few good snow days would make the world slow down and give more sewing time.  Just let me hit the grocery store first!

Christi