The EASIEST thing I have ever made!

Not too much sewing going on. I think all the travel and karate build up and painting my basement burned me out, and all I've felt like doing lately is curling up with a book. My regular readers know that cozy mysteries are my books of choice. I finished the second Leann Sweeney, Cats in Trouble book, The Cat, The Professor and The Poison. Enjoyed it!


I have another Arlene Sachitano to read, but they really aren't my favorite, even with quilts involved, so I'm sitting on that one for a while. Instead, I picked up Farm Fresh Murder by Paige Shelton, the first of the Farmer's Market Mysteries. Enjoyed it!


Now I'm reading one of Maggie Sefton's Knitting Mysteries, Dyer Consequences. There's a certain formula that works for me:

• female protagonist


• making it on her own with a home business or crafting business


• character development! I don't just want to know what they do, I want to know why and how they feel about it and what scares them and what their sense of humor is like! (I think that's why I don't like Arlene Sachitano's books - there isn't much character development)

Anyway, I forced myself down into my sewing room and started working on some Christmas presents. One is for my sister who periodically reads this, so I can't share a photo, but I also worked on some stocking stuffers. I was thinking of making snap shut change purses, and I probably still will, but I also found a tutorial for a travel tissue case. I started with one for myself, since I hate when the plastic wrap crinkles up in my purse and then the tissues appear dirty.


Oh my goodness! If this wasn't THE EASIEST THING I have EVER made! Even with the boxed corners, which, I think, makes it look much more finished (and cute!). It took so little time that I made two more while timing myself. 18 minutes from start to finish to make a pair! No way!

So I made 5 more - IN 35 MINUTES!!!

Folks, if you are looking for a quick stocking stuffer that uses up scraps and takes practically no time to make, look no further! I followed the tutorial found here. Tonight, I'm going to change my thread and make some light colored ones (I had black thread in the machine, so these were all with dark fabrics). I'm addicted! I'm almost hoping people get the sniffles so I can offer them some tissues!

Are you dressing up for Halloween? I'm going to be a nun. Not sure I can pull that off, because I sure as heck am not a saint, but I'm gonna try! And I need to hang up Jason's Halloween Quilt. Remember this, his first quilt from two years ago?

I added it to the Quilting Gallery Weekly Theme Quilt Contest. Take a peek, and if you vote for him and he wins, I promise that HE will get the fabric winnings! He is already letting me know that he needs to build his stash! Love it!

Despondency

Jason is despondent. School was closed yesterday because the roads out here in the county are still covered with snow. He's starting to think that the school week is only 4 days long because the bad weather we have had nearly every weekend has affected school nearly every Monday.


Donald was despondent. The thought of going to Pre-School while his brother was at home doing whatever he wanted made those big green eyes turn to liquid. Along with his eyes, my resolve, so he stayed home, too.


I was despondent. Things were finally a bit quieter at work, so I took Monday morning off - a little "me" time. Unfortunately, my kids don't understand the concept of "pretend Mommy is not here", so that didn't quite work out as planned. I eventually rode in to work with Adam so I could hang out with the Monday morning quilting group at the library where I got a tiny bit of hand quilting done, not nearly the progress I was hoping to get done yesterday during my time off.


And when I got home from work, the kids were ready to do something other than dress up and play superheros or watch TV (I'm pretty sure that is all they do when I am not here). So once dinner was in the oven, I took them downstairs to let Jason work on his flannel rag quilt. His quilt got kicked off the design wall when I started working on my Nickelmania quilt. (I think this is the pattern I'm going to go with, although I believe I'll put one more row around each side so that the white outline is complete)

We had quite a time trying to remember how it went back together until I remembered that we took a photo of it - thank goodness for digital cameras! He sewed until all of the pieces were at least sewn to one other piece, and then we called it quits - I could smell the lasagna and garlic bread in the oven and could no longer focus. Before putting it away, however, he made row labels so it wouldn't take us so long to lay it out next time.


In addition to restless children, there was a package waiting for me at home. I thought it would be my new Bonnie Hunter book, but instead, it was more flannel from Cheryl - thanks, Cheryl! My flannel buzzsaw quilt will get completed after all!


So, all was well in the Hutchinson household until I got the call this morning - school is closed again...

Renaissance Family Day

I woke at 4:30 AM to take my sister and her family to the airport to go back home. :(

When I got back home at 7:45 AM, I went back to sleep until 11:00 AM. :)

When I finally got up, I played dominoes with the boys, and then forgave Jason for beating me so badly (little twerp! Shouldn't we parents get to win for at least a little while after we teach them a new game? It is hard on the ego to consistently lose to a 7 year old!) and agreed to help him work on his quilt for a while. He has been pestering me for some time now - he is hoping to get another ribbon at the fair this year - and after helping my sister all day yesterday, I couldn't really say "no" now, could I?

He already had the fabric picked out from before, so he ironed **Angela - do you see the placemat you sent me for Pay It Forward? I keep in on my cutting table when I am not cutting and I LOVE it - thanks!**


and I cut (see my new self-healing cutting mat I got for Xmas? It is so big it doesn't fit on my cutting table! I am absolutely thrilled, because my last mat is nearly shredded at this point),

and he sewed,

and sewed,

and sewed.

I couldn't be more proud! We need to buy more black flannel, but I think you can tell from the design wall what he is doing. One side of the quilt has hunting and fishing fabrics, and the other side has wild animal (African? Jungle?) prints. It's going to be pretty cool! And we decided that it will be the perfect size for a car blanket. (After all, I don't want him making this just for a ribbon at the fair, I want him to make it to be functional, too.) **Cheryl - do you see some of the fabrics you sent me in there? He snapped up the bits I didn't need for my buzzsaw quilt faster than you can say "please"!**

Once we did all we could do without the extra black flannel, we practiced our karate. Now he and Donald are watching BOLT while I catch up on blogs. Happy New Year, everyone! Mine has started out GREAT! I hope yours is, too!

Whirlwind week!

Tuesday: My mom met me at work and came with me to the quilt show at the fair while I served as hostess (greeting visitors, making sure no one had food or beverage, handing out gloves to those who wanted to touch quilts or see the backs). Imagine my joy when I saw that Jason had won second place in the youth division! (I promise, this is the last photo of Jason and his quilt.)



After checking out all the quilts, I sat down and did some more deconstruction of my great-great-grandmother's quilt while my mother and I had a nice visit. Since my hubby had the kids at the park and pool, I took my mom out to dinner - I didn't want this grown-up evening to end!

Wednesday: I wasn't feeling very good, but after work, I took the kids to the county fair. We started with the quilt exhibit, but then moved on to the rides and the food, and finally the livestock. Three and a half hours later, I was exhausted but giddy - I love the fair!

Thursday: Woke up SICK!!! I had strep throat last month, and this felt very similar. I went to work, but made a doctor's appointment in the AM and lo and behold - strep throat AGAIN!!! I went home to rest because I had to go to New York City the next day for work - ugh! There were some bright spots in the day, though. At the doctor's office, I finally sewed the hanging sleeve onto my challenge quilt from last year. It still isn't on the wall, but that is coming. I also shaved all the hair off of my head. Maybe that doesn't seem like a bright spot to some of you, but I am a simple gal, and all that hair was driving me CRAZY! I feel light-headed now, free to swim and sweat and nap, etc, without worrying about what it will mean to my hair. Guess I need to change my avatar now...

Friday: Feeling better, but exhausted. Drove 2.5 hours to the airport, flew to NYC, did my program and fell into bed.

Saturday: Surreal day - woke up and wandered around the Upper East Side looking for breakfast before hopping on a bus to LaGuardia Airport. When I got home that evening, I built a campfire in the firepit with the kids and made smores. Aaahh, home!

(yes, that is a large cooking fork we are using to roast marshmallows - necessity is the mother of invention)

Sunday: As much as I wanted a day of rest, it wasn't in the cards. First, we had to go pick up our quilts from the fair. Jason was surprised again when he found out that not only did he get a ribbon, but he got PRIZE MONEY! Yup, he has already started picking out fabrics for next year's quilt...

We also went to karate, then to the pool. Guess what? Both my kids can now jump off the diving board into the deep end! This is going to completely change my pool-going experience! No more standing knee-deep in the kiddie pool for me. So glad I cut my hair!

Back at home, I watched 4 episodes of Gilmore Girls while I finished taking apart my great-great-grandmother's quilt. Now, all I have to do is put it back together...

Monday: I'm so glad I had the foresight to take the morning off. I got the kids off to camp, then went for a short run before spending a couple hours with my quilting buddies at City Hall. I forgot to bring an iron, so I was pretty limited with what I could do, but I did sew all of the trimmed down pieces of my great-great-grandmother's quilt together into two-patches. (I need an acroynm for that quilt; that is too much to type - GGG perhaps?) Then I treated myself to lunch and coffee with a new paperback before going in to work. After work, the kids agreed to skip karate and go clothes/shoe shopping with me - who says you need little girls to enjoy those things!?! I love shopping with my kids - they are brutally honest about things that don't look good, but when it works, they rain down the compliments. Plus, they give me permission to buy anything I want - I got a purse, a dress and THREE pairs of shoes!!!

The cherry on top of this day was the squishy mail waiting for me when I got home from This-n-That Fabrics. I think they are my new favorite online quilt shop. They have great $3/yard fabric and they ship immediately!



TODAY: I have to work, and then karate and a work-related gathering, so I'm not going to have much time to sew, but I am determined to get something done, even if it is just pressing the two-patches I sewed together yesterday. I am feeling the need to CREATE! First, though, I need to catch up on what you all have been doing...

Proud!

Jason finished his first quilt, and I am just so proud!

It will hang in the county fair from Tuesday until Saturday. I have my fingers crossed that he'll get some type of recognition, because he worked so long and hard on this. Besides, it's cute! I love the buttons he picked out to tie it with. Check out the haunted house and ghost,

and the bat flying in front of the moon.

My quilt is a different story. I didn't even it touch it today. I'll be sewing like a woman possessed tomorrow. I went to my quilt guild meeting this morning, and we worked on comfort quilts. We also received the instructions for the first round/border of our challenge quilt. Which reminded me...I hadn't yet made the center block for the challenge quilt. I worked on that while Jason finished up his quilt. The idea is that it is a round robin mystery quilt that we work on alone and don't let anyone see until it is finished. Last month we were given 4 blocks to choose from for the center. (I chose the easiest - Star of Virginia.) This month and for the next two months, we will receive instructions for each successive round/border. We should be done piecing the top in October, and are supposed to unveil our "masterpieces" in December, fully quilted. Then we'll have a display of challenge quilts at next year's quilt show.

I think only 1 person from my guild reads my blog, and she's the program coordinator who set up the challenge, so I can post my progress on here. Here's my center block,

and here it is after my first round.

This round had to include at least one triangle, but that was the only stipulation. Again, taking the easy way out, I simply squared up the half-square triangles that I cut off while making the center block, and made pinwheels with them. I'll all caught up until next month, waaaay ahead of the game. Now, if I could just finish this quilt that needs to be turned in at the fair on Monday...

Oh, and I also decided on colors for my Celtic Knot Mystery - black, red, green and white. Here's a layout (unsewn) of chunk #1.

I'm not going to sew it together until I gather some darker greens. And I'm not going to gather greens until my fair quilt is DONE. Better get to work.

No time for actual sewing

I had company over the weekend, and while we had a fantastic time, that means not much happened on the quilting front. I managed to do a bit more seam ripping on my grandmother's quilt while sitting and talking on the front porch, and a bit more squaring up after everyone left on Sunday evening, but that is it. I need to start sewing so I feel like I have made some progress. Especially since I was traveling the weekend before, and I haven't used my sewing machine in several weeks.

While I was traveling, however, I stopped by a quilt shop to try to find some brown fabric to finish the binding on a quilt that I am finishing for a woman who started quilting about 10 years ago but then got distracted, decided she wasn't going to do it anymore, and sent me all of her books and notions to clear space in her house. As payment, I finished the hand quilting on her tablerunner, and put on the binding. I am binding with the leftover backing fabric, but I was just a bit shy of enough. I have been stopping in every quilt shop I pass to find matching fabric, and I finally got lucky. Jason was with me, so he picked out some backing fabric for his Halloween quilt that he is entering in the fair this year.

And I couldn't resist picking up a few fabrics for myself - I did a great job of not buying any fabric last year, but I have fallen off the "no-buy" wagon. I need some new stuff in the stash because I am getting tired of making quilts out of the same old fabrics. (At least, that is how I am justifying my last couple of purchases to myself.)


I also stopped by my mother-in-law's, the one who introduced me to quilting in the first place. She does everything by hand, including the piecing. She showed me the quilt she is currently hand quilting, and then gave me an extra block from that quilt. (It is square, really. It was just kinda balled up and I didn't press it before taking the picture.)
Cool! I plan to make an orphan block quilt one day, and this will definitely make it in there.

And then, I just stopped by the library during late lunch to find something to read. One of the employees there saw me and said, "Hey, I've got something for you! Well, not here with me at work, but I've got something for you!" I missed the Guild meeting this weekend, but it turns out that some scraps were collected and earmaked for ME! Gotta love being known as the scrap gal!