Crazy weather...........

Where to begin?  Are you as confused as I am by this weather?  We had guild meeting a week ago and our new opportunity quilt is quilted!  I think it looks amazing!  All those flying geese seem to know which way to go..........something that probably can't be said about the real geese..........this crazy weather has to have them so confused!

Beware the Ides of March

I can't believe we are already to the middle of the month!  I was working with some basket weavers this past weekend and commented on the Ides of March and they had no idea where the phrase came from.  My inner English teacher sprang to life and had to impart some literary wisdom about the famous quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.  So now we are all on the lookout for "bad" things happening.

NOT bad things............

 Andi's basket is turning out beautifully........she has added the leather handles and has it ready to rim.

In like a lamb???

I can't quite believe it's March!  I can't decide if we are getting Lion or Lamb weather today.  It's very windy, but at least it's sunny.  

It has been a long week.  The hubs did have the flu.  It was pretty quiet around the house as he just didn't feel like talking for several days, and now is still coughing (and talking leads to coughing), so I have been thankful for Jason and Cici.  I did spend 3 nights sleeping in the spare room, which was sad since hubby felt so bad.  I did get to sleep under a different quilt though!  And, I discovered where Cici spends the night...........on the spare bed.  I think she was quite glad to see hubby improve and me move out of her bed.

We enjoyed some warmer days this week.  However, this seems to have awakened the lady bugs.

Cici did her best to corral them for me.  

Aloha! from Quilt Retreat!!!

So I'm still doing good at one of my New Year's resolutions...........my fabric scraps are getting cut up and stored appropriately, BUT I haven't been blogging like I intended too.  I guess 1 out of 2 isn't bad..............but, I'm hoping for better.

This past weekend was our quilt retreat at Sew Sweet Quilt Shop and retreat center in Brunswick.  It was wonderful.  We tried to think warm thoughts and get lots of sewing done while having amazing fun!

Here is a photo of the grass skirt competition!  There was also a family feud game, strip poker (2.5" fabric strips - I won the pot twice!), door prizes, Hawaiian quilting and freezer paper piecing demonstrations,and lots of great food!

Christmas Quilting Fun!

We had our quilt guild Christmas party last week.  It was so much fun.  We had an amazing carry-in supper including these cookies.........

Definitely too pretty to eat!

The Initial Challenge!

Our guild does a "Challenge" project each year.  Participation is totally voluntary.  The committee usually gives us 2-3 choices of challenge projects and we vote on one to do.  This year was the Initial Challenge.  You had to use your first initial to come up with your main color, and your last initial to come up with the block pattern.  What fun!  I think it sparked some real creativity.  

I had a beautiful piece of fabric that I loved and after holding it up to all the different spices in my spice cabinet, decided that it was Cayenne and I had another piece that was Caribbean Blue, so made some bear paw blocks..........see how it works??  My color had to start with C and my block with B, my initials!  After I had my table runner done, I found another pattern called Box Social that I really liked.  I still had plenty of the Cayenne fabric left, so teamed it with a Cat Fancy charm pack to make a wall hanging.  I love this wall hanging.

It looks great in my dining room!

Oh my SQUASH!!!

(This was written on Thursday, but somehow didn't get posted until this morning - Saturday.)

The Hubs planted our garden this year.  He asked about a few things I wanted and then just went to it.  I didn't realize he was planting Butternut Squash.  I don't like them, but he does.  I don't mind fixing one occasionally, but they are so difficult to cut up.

Of all the things for the garden to produce in abundance, it was the butternut squash.  We predict there are at least 100 out there.  He just keeps saying, "I only planted 6 seeds!"  Here is the wheelbarrow load I picked last week and brought up to the deck to wash off.  Now, I try to carry a handful to the basement every time I step outside.  

Goals!

I'm so excited............an ENTIRE day at home!  I have 3 goals for the day:
1.  Banana Bread
2.  Blog
3.  Sew with Cici

We can check off number 1.  I made banana bread first thing this morning.  DD loves banana bread (I put chocolate chips in mine), and requested some.  We are heading to Rolla on Sunday for a short visit so will take it to her.  She wants us to go to church and hear the bell choir (which means an early morning for us since church starts at 9!).  Then we'll take her to lunch and to Walmart (ugh!) and visit just a little before heading back.  She has 3 big tests so needs most of the afternoon for studying.  We'll stop for a short visit with cousins on the way back and also at a REAL (not Walmart) grocery store in Columbia.

While the banana bread was baking, I spent some time cleaning up emails and watched 3 Missouri Star Tutorials!!!!  There are so many things I want to make.  AND, fellow guild member and friend Gina told me that I NEEDED to start more things so I would have more UFO's for my list next year!  Remember that New Year's resolution about finishing more things than I started?  Well, I think it was successful because I have about cleared the UFO list.  Everything on my list of things started before the beginning of the year is either finished or off to be quilted!  

So, what am I working on?

Welcome Lizzy!

I did not need another sewing machine, but when this bargain opportunity came along, I just couldn't pass it up.  Meet Lizzy!

Lizzy is a Singer 201.  The machine was in great shape and runs wonderfully.  Lizzy has a great stitch.  Notice the cute little pin cushion I found in one of the drawers.  I got the silver polish out and shined it up!  The cabinet (which I love) needed some cleaning and a little repair (thanks hubby for the repairs!).  And, I have moved further down in the attic room.  As I was doing a little work on Lizzy yesterday (sorry, I was having too much fun with Lizzy to blog!), I got to thinking that if I moved DD's books out of that book shelf, it would be a great place to store quilt books and maybe even MORE FABRIC!  Friend Gina and her hubby Dennis stopped by to give Lizzy their stamp of approval and Dennis commented on my stash.........it's not very big!

State Fair, Back to School, the Eclipse, and Quilts!

It has been a busy week.  I have been working taking reservations for people coming in to see the Eclipse next Monday.  There are about 100 plane reservations to fly in to the little Marshall airport (including 3 jets and a helicopter), and over 200 people coming to brunch in the Martin Center.............the visitor from the furthest away will be Melbourne, Australia!  I probably won't get a blog done next week, but will have many stories and photos to share later.

We had a quilt guild meeting this week and had a trunk show from Liz Granberg.  She does some beautiful work, very different from anything I've done.

Aren't these interesting!  They are much more "art" quilts than what I do.  

Retreat!!!!

This past weekend was my quilt guild's retreat at Sew Sweet in Brunswick.  It was a Friday-Saturday event, but I was only able to attend on Saturday.  When I carried my stuff in on Saturday morning this was the first thing I noticed on a design wall.........

I immediately asked who was working on this and it was Michelle.  I am working on the same pattern.  It's a Bonnie Hunter mystery from a few years ago and is a free pattern on her website called Old Tobacco Road.

Michelle is obviously a little further along than I am.  I worked on the green/neutral pinwheel blocks.  Now that I've seen hers, I can't wait to get mine to that stage to see it come together.  However, this is supposed to be what I'm using as Leader/Enders, so I'm trying to keep myself in check and work on the other things I need to do.  

Oopsie!

Here it is, TUESDAY, and I didn't get my blog done on Monday!  How did that happen????  I guess I'm going to blame it on the new kittens that were born Sunday night.  I spent a good deal of time yesterday (when I wasn't doing the things I HAD to do) just sitting by the box watching them.  There are 6 beautiful babies!  

Thoughts from the Sewing Room

I spent some time in the sewing room this week.  The Hubs fixed the table we purchased at the flea market so that Tucker fits into it.

This is a great table, lots of room to spread stuff out.  And if I need to, I can lift Tucker out, replace the board and have a large surface to cut on.  As you can see Tucker is working on my little red nine patches.  I would really like to get these rows sewn together.  However, you can't tell it from this photo, but I will have to re-thread Tucker since the thread somehow has been chewed in half!  Don't know who could be responsible for that.

I didn't even MAKE her sit in the corner............she just KNOWS!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Well, DD headed back to school yesterday after spring break.  I think she was a little lost during the week with no set schedule.  She helped me lay out the batting and backing for my En Provence quilt which is finally ready to go to the quilter...........2724 pieces!  These really aren't my colors, so I'm hoping that the time the quilt spends with the quilter will make me like it better.........absence makes the heart grow fonder!  Hopefully!

Spring Break!

First, here is a photo of Cici's quilt........another finish on my UFO list.  It has actually been finished for 3 weeks or so, but I wrote directions for it and made them into clues to use for a March Mystery Madness (basketball tournament theme) quilt project for my guild, so couldn't show the quilt until the last clue and reveal were done.  This was scheduled to take place on March 29th, but I was so elated about the Oregon Ducks defeating KU, that I released the last clue and revealed the photo to the guild members late Saturday evening.

Look, it even has feet!  I can't wait to see everyone's version of this quilt based on the clues/directions they received each week.  Our April guild meeting should be fun!

Getting things finished (or at least making progress!)

Many thanks to Cici for filling in for me on the blog last week (I think!).  Fortunately, things are going a little better.  I finally have all of the En Provence blocks that I had to rip apart resewn (some more than twice, unfortunately), and have started putting them on the new design wall I made in my sewing room.  My sewing room is an attic room with sloped ceilings that are pretty low - I don't have to stand on ANYTHING to change a light bulb!  This made creating a design wall a little tricky, but I finally figured out how to do it and told the Hubs, and he had a bracket and rod up in no time.  I purchased a cheap vinyl table cloth and sewed a casing in one end of it and put it on the rod and PRESTO!  Design Wall!  It's at the other end of the attic room between the dormer window that is now a closet, so I get my steps in going back and forth!

You can see that I have 9 of the 16 blocks finished and some of the sashing pieces as well.  I finally counted and each block has 80 pieces.  I will be so glad when this top is done.  I can't wait to hand it off to be quilted and say something like, "I don't want to see this again until August at the earliest.........November might be even better."  I just want to be able to say I got it finished before our December guild meeting so I can scratch it off the list.

The best thing about this is the design wall.  The flannel on the back of the table cloth is great for sticking blocks to.  And if I need to get into the closet, I just slide the table cloth to the side, or can even lift the bar out of the bracket.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all!  I made DH homemade angel food cake (Great Aunt Mildred's recipe) this afternoon and fixed fresh strawberries to go with it.  I also did some chocolate covered strawberries!  We have a quilt guild meeting tomorrow night, so I'm planning to take DH out to eat Mexican prior to the meeting.  I invited him to the meeting since it's Valentine's Day, but he declined.

Romance is in the air.  DD came home this weekend to try on her maid of honor dress for a wedding she's in on March 4th.  I had to alter it a little and wanted her to try it on before I clipped curves, etc.  Now I need to hem the slip she's wearing.  We also practiced a hairstyle.

Be it Resolved............

It's still January, so technically, I think I can still make resolutions for 2017!  In my quilt guild, we have a UFO challenge each year where we list one UFO that has been around for awhile that really, really needs to get finished.  This year I listed my bordered periwinkle quilt that has been around for at least 3 years.  I should never have started it.  It is paper pieced, and I have never liked (trying not to use the word "hate") paper piecing.  Somehow, it always sounds wonderful, but when I get down to actually working on it, it's not so wonderful.  Anyway, that is my main UFO project to get finished this year.  

Happy New Year!!!

Where to begin?????

Christmas and its many activities has come and gone and 2017 is here!  I did start a new job at the chiropractor's office, but discovered that it just wasn't going to work.  While I really enjoyed the work, I was experiencing lots of foot pain (have had foot trouble before, but not for a long time) from standing from 8-6 every day.  So, I gave notice and am now currently staying at home this week.  I may be returning to work part time at the Martin Community Center.  In the meantime, I'm gearing up for piano lessons to start next week, both at MVC where I will have 2 students and here at home, where I may have as many as 9.  

In early December, David and I participated in Journey to Bethlehem, a joint effort put on by 2 local churches.  The set design was amazing.

I was the village basket weaver.  Here is my station.

Over 400 visitors came to Bethlehem (they all had to register for the census), and it was a busy night.  I got 3 baskets woven to the rim stage that evening.

Sweet & Savory

Where has the month gone?????

I can't believe we are midway through November, Thanksgiving is on our doorstep, and Christmas will be here before we know it.  Fall is my favorite time of year because it is all about chillier temps (I'm still waiting for those), fall colors and leaves falling (still waiting for the leaves to fall), comfort foods, and making Christmas gifts!

Here is a basket I recently finished.........

This will be a Christmas gift.  The pattern has instructions for a set of 4 nested baskets. This is the largest.  I have everything ready to do the others, if I can find the time.  It has a round wood base and a rolled Gretchen rim.  It had been awhile since I did this rim treatment.  Here is what it looks like at the beginning of weaving the rim.....

Kind of messy looking..........so much fun to bring order into chaos!  Hard to believe it's the same basket.