It’s Kim’s fault….

If you read Peaches in Stitches, you’ll understand.

It’s that time of year to review what I’ve accomplished/completed and what I have left to do.  UFO review time.

Over the next week or so I’ll share pictures of my completed project (kinda a year in review – and no I still don’t have a working camera and I still have so much to share) and share my re-evaluated UFO’s.  Which means, I will most likely be giving away some……unsure how I plan to do that part, but it will involve audience paticipation!

Check out Kim’s handy UFO worksheet and share what you do to keep y0ur UFO’s organized, please.

Maybe we can work together and knock them out in 2010?  Anyone else up to the challenge?

Saturday pictures….

this morning my hubby is taking my girls to meet his brother.  The girls are going away for a week with family in Tennessee!  So, I have this day to myself…WWeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

First thing I’m doing is ORGANIZING!!  I have tons of piles, time to put piles into plastic bins or “file 13″ (aka trash).

But did I mention I was sewing this week?  Of course I did, here’s some pictures of what I’ve been working on.  Ms. Cindy guess (easily, I’m sure—I’m a bit predictable) it’s Halloween related….it is.   I cut this out while on my retreat in June and it has kinda gone together quickly-the ironing is the longest part.

And just for humor sake and the fact I love Halloween….I use my coasters from Betsy year round:

mmmmm….coffee……even in a winter mug LOL

I’ll be posting a few times today, lots to share and to accomplish…it’s definitely a good dvd movie kinda day!

Unsure where to start…

I haven’t posted in a while and there’s so much going on can’t find the time to do it correctly.  Let me start now and see how long it takes for me to publish this….ok, I started this post on the 9th….let’s try again.

The past 2 months have been a whirled wind!  I’ve traveled to Texas – again, Pittsburgh, Deal Island, Maryland, lost over 60 hours of sleep, caught back up on sleep, lost track of 3 swaps, caught back up on swaps, ripped out very nasty carpet in sewing studio (15′ x 22′ area), totally rearranged my sewing studio, kids got out of school, and now trying to just find my stuff to sew something for myself!!

I have been going, going, going more so than normal I had an out of season depression spell and I think I’m finally over that.  But needless to say, I have lost track on the things that helped balance me on a daily basis.   I’m starting to find my sewing items and sew, in fact I’m quilting today the last stage of a round robin swap.  Then I’m going to sew some blocks for my Needle Nosh block of the month class.

I still have a HUGE pile of stuff in my sewing studio to go through, but I’m doing it in baby steps.  A little each day.  I hope to have it organized before we leave for the ocean next week.

I have only accomplished one completed top in 3 months—if that doesn’t speak volumes, then you are just getting to know me.  I finished it on my quilting retreat.  I also have done a bit of hand work with my hexagons.  I do have pictures!!!

I’ll finish making some albums of my pictures over the pass few months and share them this week.

I am planning on reconnecting with my blogland friends and you might see over the next few days some comments from me on older posts   Sorry for neglecting you all.  I do miss you.

I’m sneaking….

company has arrived safe and sound!  It’s a long drive from Tennessee, about 8 hours with rain.  House is cleaner, thanks to Cheryl who came over with 2 vacuums!!! YAH!!

I did sneak some sewing in and completed a few things.

This is a panel, called In My Garden–normally I wouldn’t do a panel for a gift, but this one is cute and really fits the new baby’s room theme.  I’m also going to make the fabric book that goes along with it:

Of course I ran out of the purple fabric and being we have our 25% off sale started yesterday….it’s allll gone…ugh…so I need to figure out another binding to match the flannel backing I’m going to use.  No clue how to quilt this, but I’ll figure it out.

Then I did complete all 12 blocks of my Bali Pops….it’s getting close to naming this….I have 2 rows together already as well:

I can’t wait to get these all together!

I think we are visiting Amish country today.  Haven’t done that in about 7 years!  So, need to look up some sight seeing stuff…..any suggestions….besides quilt shops, don’t think my sister in law would enjoy it as much as I would   We are heading to Lancaster area.

I’m a nut….

go on and just say it…..

I purchased fabric yesterday of a new Halloween line.  I used the pattern from Clothworks (who makes the line, Midnight Mischief) and got enough fabric to “whip” up a top.

Got home yesterday from work and errands around 6:15, made dinner, ate, played on the computer then proceeded to cut out fabric….by 9:15 I have 50% of the top done.  Started sewing again at 7:00 am and just finished it:

Needless to say, I’m tickled!!  I’m going to bring it to work for a shop sample and quilt it later, but it’s done and too cute.  It’s about 48″ x 50″.  Here’s a close up:

I guess I can shower now and get ready for work, huh??

I also hung up my Verry Purple Little Quilt (it’s new name) on my wire of quilts (please ignore the cobwebs–I’m short and they don’t get cleared out but once a year):

Have a good day!

Monday, Monday….lala lalala

le sigh….what happens when your only shower clogs up? Ya have the septic tank people come out (thinking that is why it’s backing up there)…..$250 later, shower still clogged. Drano worked, but only a little, I’m debating what to do now-either call a plumber or try Drano again….point is I have to work and I need a shower Hubby is lucky enough to have a shower available for him at work.

I did do some sewing in between stressing about the water issues. Remind me next time I think I can easily “whip” out a queen size quilt (no matter how easy the pattern it), I can’t please LOL But I have made lots of progress on it. Here’s kinda the feel of it. I have 4 more columns to go, but I have finished the other checkered piece column and the remaining columns should go together quickly.

I finally am using a notion that I recieved as a gift years ago and figured I would never use them, but found them very useful for this project:

So, I need to figure out what my plans are for today.

There is positive news, if you are interested in participating in a mini quilt swap, The Miniature Booty Swap Round 2 is up and accepting applicants! Spread the word.

Weekend Pictures….

ah-ha!  I do have lurkers   Ya know I just wanted to see who would come out of the wood work with my last post

So, the shop has received lots of new items over the past week and on Friday, we got 2 new books in and a new color rotary mat…of course, I had to get them all:

Then, a dear friend took me out for my birthday dinner (yes, it’s a month ago, but we couldn’t get our schedules to work right) and I have never eaten at one before and oh my gosh……I recommend it to everyone…I over ate, a weeee bit look at this YUMMY shot of a dessert from Carrabba’s Friday night.

Next, I spent lots of sewing time with Cheryl this weekend and we had a wonderful time, though I don’t feel like I was as productive as I wanted to be.

You must see her new iron though….I was humored by it:

Yep, exactly like mine (she likes mine a lot) but it’s blue!!  How cool is that!  Now if they made them in Purple, I would have an extra iron

So, I sewed several items that were for obligated swaps and am all caught up (except some pieces that require hand work) until July now and feeling like I didn’t accomplish a project for me, I did a quickie table runner based off one of the patterns in “Let’s Do Lunch”.  I think I’m going to add a small dark blue border around it though, it’s just too busy.

I also got more done on some the Pink and Green monster, though I think it’s going to be a challenge to finish this project–hopefully I’ll get it done in time for my daughter’s birthday in August.

I’m about to go and pick up my 2 quilts I just gave to the quilter a few weeks ago…OMgosh!!  I’m giving her my Gum Drops and Field of Sunflowers for the next round.  I barely had enough batting and had to piece together some to fit.

I’ll of course share pictures of the completed ones this afternoon!

Off I go!

Happy Mother’s Day!

To all my dear friends who are grandmas, moms and soon to be moms.  I hope your day is filled with love and appreciation and time just for you!!

I received my breakfast in bed (too early) and plan to sew all day! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

But I have been sewing and cutting already this weekend.

I finished sewing all my 9 Patches (42 total) for my batik sunflowers and started the corner piece.

Then I cut all my pieces and sewed one of my Orange Crush Blocks for Part 4 (yes, she surprised us and posted the clue 2 days ago!!).  Not too sure on my choices, but hopefully it will all come together in the end.

And I’m trying something out for another project and unsure of it’s results.  I don’t work too well with no color fabrics….but close up these do look nice.

And yesterday helping my son with a school project and drove him to Hagerstown, MD to visit a museum–I visited the 2 local quilt shops up there!

I visited Wilson’s Quilt Shop first, and missed it because it blended in so will with the neighborhood homes:

There’s no “big” sign on the road side to know where it is and the only other thing that I didn’t like was the fact they don’t cut FQs.  Otherwise, I have to admit (next to my shop) this was a very nice shop and probably one of the best ones I have visited in Maryland.  The fabric selection is very nice, the staff very friendly and the  a huge selection of machines.   The lighting is awsome and bright and it is spacious and organized nicely.  I would highly recommend making the effort to visit this shop.  Their fabric selection is very wide from thimbleberries, civil war, modas, batiks, and asian fabrics.  Very nice!

The second shop, The Traditions At The White Swan, I almost missed as well.  While they do have a sign, it’s not large and “bright”.  It blended in with the trees:

Again, a nice shop.  The staff was friendly and polite.  They have a large, large collection of FQ’s, and will cut FQ’s if requested (and FQs are only $2.35 each!).  While they do seem to have a little bit of everything, they definitely have more focus on Civil War fabric and Thimbleberries —dark feel fabrics.  I did enjoy their clearance section and wish I have more funds to enjoy it thoroughly.  The store isn’t brightly light, but the set up is nice and organized with beautifully costumed made racks.  I would recommend this shop to folks who do enjoy the period feel fabrics and darker palettes.

There are SOOO many quilt shops here in Maryland….and Maryland is small, so most are within an hour of each other.

I have been to:

• Bear’s Paw, Ellicott City (closed last month)
• Capital Quilts, Gaithersburg
• Cheakespeake Bay Quilting, Waldorf (closed a month or so ago)
• Cotton Seed Glory, Annapolis
• Fabric Chest, Glen Burnie
• G-Street (technically not a Quilt shop, but has a huge quilting fabric selection–HUGE)
• Material Girls, La Plana
• Needles & Pins, Frederick
• Seminole Sampler, Catonsville
• Sisto’s, Frederick

I would love to visit:

• Tomorrow’s Treasures, Crofton
• Main Street Quilt Shop, Elkridge (Savage Mills)
• Sew n’ Save, Aberdeen

There are still about 12 others in Maryland — I created a list with all their websites, if anyone is interested–please let know if I miss any too .  Not to mention I could hit a quite a few in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia.  I wish I had more time…..and more money

I’m sure I’ll share more pictures later today.   Enjoy your day!

So what do you do…

when you go to bed at 11:40 pm and wake up at 2:40 am? Put in movies (Lord of the Rings series) and sew.

I finished ironing all my Orange Crush. I finished my top and quilted–just need to do the hand binding and label for my Booty swap. I finished up one round robin. I created a 12″ block for my challenge fabric at work. I got 4 halloween scrappy houses together (just need to add borders and wall hanging will be done). Oh, and there was some cleaning up going on as well.

I’m not quite tired yet and I have to wait til the girls get up and go to church, then I might go to sleep…here’s some pictures of my early morning antics!

First my challenge block, second a teaser for my Mini Booty Swap, third, my own Halloweenie Scrappy Houses:

What a day!

Well it started off right, picking a winner of my Earth-Birthday Offer (which went into the mail today!).  Then I arrive a wee bit too early for my quilt pick up and had a Starbucks.

Met Ms. Penny at 10am at a quilt shop about 30 minutes from me…..and let me say I can not stress how wonderful her work is!  I’m SOOO happy with the results of her work.  She is the 3rd longarmer I have “tested” and will be the last for a long time.  I already gave her 2 other tops (my Irish Flip Flops and my Witch Way Did The Cat Go? tops) for a late June completion date.  Of course pictures don’t do these quilts justice, but you get the drift and I asked her not to remove the excess/square up the quilts due to my last experience with a quilter. The first quilt is the one for my sister-Chocolate Covered Strawberries, the second is from a swap I did 8 years ago and I’ve named it, Houses for Rent and don’t have a purpose for it…yet–though I’m thinking of “donating” it to a friend

Of course I had to “shop” at the quilt store and picked up a few clearance items and some fqs!  Kept it cheap though, being I really don’t purchase random fabric now days —it’s kinda weird.

Then I hit the post office (again) and stopped by my shop to show off these babies and pick up binding fabric for the Chocolate Covered Strawberries.  Then stopped by Cheryl’s house to show these quilts off….and look what she got for us:

and so we made, these:

YUM YUM!!

Or course that begins me to my Orange Crush (which is why Cheryl did this…isn’t she cool )  Ya know the 97 cents ruler I picked up at Joann’s on Saturday…well, it was intuition I think!  Being it was required for Part 3 of the OC and I’m done with Part 3…just ironing the rest of the evening…and now have to wait for part 4!

That brings me to Bonnie’s Scrappy House class…..my sewing partner in the class was Debbie, who has finished her main top of scrappy houses –she is planning on adding an inner border and outer border, since, but doesn’t it look GREAT!!

But wait I have one more set of images to share….(told ya I had pictures…lots of them)…

At the shop we host Project Linus volunteers (anyone who wants to sit and sew) on Tuesdays and there’s a lady who is an amazing artist and painted her Bernina sewing machine.  I told her she could make lots of money if she offered her services–I would love to have mine painted!  I was told I need to see her car, hopefully next week I can.  Her name is Ann and this is her machine, all the images are of various goddesses and the Madonna:

Whew…….sorry for the picture overload!  It is Wordless Wednesday, but I can’t be wordless!   I’m going to start my challenge block now, I think.