Better and better

If I was happy when I wrote my last post, right now, I am over the moon! 

Yesterday, I received an email from a gentleman who had been in my booth on Saturday.  He praised my work and said he'd taken my card and visited my ETSY shop.  There was a quilt on there that he wanted to buy for his wife, but he didn't have a PayPal account so could he pay by check?

Woo hoo!  My first bed-sized quilt sale!  Do you know how much FABRIC I can buy with $600???  And since he is paying by check, I have some more time to spend with Pick and Choose before she is gone for good.  I love that quilt, but I'm a quilter - I can make another if I want to.

So that was what made my day great, but the icing on the cake was when a co-worker texted me to let me know that my picture was in the paper.  Of course I ran out and bought 4 copies right away!



Me, setting up my booth for the Community Festival.  I'm hanging my Scrabble Tile earrings, which were a hit.  You can see part of Pick and Choose draped over the rack.

I hope your day brings as many happy surprises as mine did!

Cognitive fatigue?

My brain hurts.  I have been scrappy and wonky for so long that this month's bee block really strained my brain.  The block is beautiful, but I was really stressed out about putting all those HST in the right place.  The construction isn't challenging, per se, but you do have to pay attention.  Isn't this the SWOON block?  There was a time when I thought I'd like to make one.  Well, I can cross that off my list.  Making a whole quilt of these blocks would send me off the deep end.  How smart of her to make this her Bee Block - have everyone else make the blocks for you.  Genius!

My quilt is home from the fair.  Now I can finish up the quilting and just admire it.  I wish it were just a tad bit bigger so I could have it on my bed.  It is 77" square (well, kinda square), and it covers the top of my queen sized bed, but if either I or my husband were to roll over, the other one would be left out in the cold.  

Oh well. I have a scrappy green and cream quilt I've been working on for years that is probably big enough to cover my bed. I must finish it - I can't go through another winter without a quilt on my bed - it just isn't RIGHT!  Of course, I've said that before. This post from 2009 references the fact that I started quilting this quilt for myself years before and hadn't finished yet, and that was three years ago!

I hosted a quilting bee at my house back in 2004 or 2005 - that's how long ago I started this quilt.  Time to finish it, wouldn't you say?

Surprise!

I promised my kids that we'd go to the county fair last night, but this has been the "Summer of the Storms" here in southwestern Virginia, and last night was no exception.  Heavy rain, thunder and lightning meant that the midway rides were closed down.  We went anyway to see everything else going on.  We started with the quilt show (of course!).  As I walked up to my quilt, I was hoping against hope for a green ribbon, Honorable Mention.   I've gotten 2 of those in the past, for this baby quilt

Honorable Mention - hand quilted, 2010 Rockbridge County Fair Quilt Show

and for this mini quilt,

Honorable Mention, Miniature (although also hand quilted), 2008? or 2007? Rockbridge County Fair Quilt Show

and well, heck, it just feels nice to be recognized, doesn't it?  But I knew it was unlikely.  After all, my quilt wasn't even DONE, for heaven's sake.  So when I didn't see the green hanging there, I admit to feeling just a bit crestfallen. 

Until I got a little closer and saw the RED RIBBON!!!! 

Are you kidding me?  Second place!?!  I am just over the MOON!!!  To say I was surprised doesn't even do my feelings justice.  I must have let out a shriek or something, because all of a sudden, other people at the quilt show were peeking around the other quilts at me to see what was going on.

After that, I didn't care that I got wet and dirty wandering the fairgrounds with the boys.  We got our dinner, followed up, of course, with yummy funnel cake.  We watched them show some cattle, and then checked out the rest of the animals on our own, petting all of them at least twice, I think.  The cutest thing, though, was this kid, born right there at the fair just hours before.  Isn't he/she just adorable!

Before we got back home, my husband called to let us know that a tree had fallen across our road during the storm, and that we'd have to park the car, climb the fence into our neighbor's pasture, and hoof it back up the last STEEP hill to our house.

To my kids, this sounded like a fun adventure, so they were pretty disappointed when we got home and my AMAZING NEIGHBORS had already cleared the road.

Who says life in the country is slow and boring and predictable?  NOT ME!

Crunch Time!

I wish I were spending more time in Blogland, but it is crunch time for me.  I entered my Pick and Choose quilt in the county fair this year, but it isn't done yet! 

I started quilting this quilt LAST summer, and I'm STILL not done!  Granted, I've finished several other quilts in the meantime, but SHEESH!

I have to turn it in on Monday morning.  I am quilting every chance I get.  I took the kids to the pool yesterday, and sat in the shade quilting while they were swimming.  We watched Eragon last night since we listened to the book on CD while driving all over creation on vacation, and I sat there with my LED neck lamp in our darkened movie theater so I could see to quilt while watching the movie.  I've been carrying my quilt back and forth to work every day so I can work on it during my lunch breaks.  I'm going to be known around town as "that crazy quilt lady!" carrying a quilt with me everywhere I go, but I have got to get it done!

Other than that, no sewing per se, but I did make some Scrabble tile earrings for myself and my sisters and my mom while on vacation this year

E is for ERIN!  Well, for Ericka in this photo since that is my sister's ear, but we're identical twins - that's what my ear looks like, too!

and got so many favorable comments about them from complete strangers while wearing them, that I spent some time last weekend making more (13 pair!) and put them in my ETSY shop. 

My head is spinning with all kinds of new and exciting projects I'd like to be working on, but first, I MUST FINISH THIS QUILT!

Scrap attack!

Have you noticed I haven't done much quilting lately? Reading, yes. Sewing up little gifts and whatnot, yes. But quilting, no. I couldn't take it anymore! I had to get up to my elbows in scraps and work on a quilt (or two, or three).

I started by helping Donald work on a quilt. His student teacher is leaving at the end of the week, and he wanted to make a quilt for her, so I helped him sew up blocks for a signature quilt using some pre-cut 5.5" squares that I inherited from someone somewhere down the line. He picked out the fabrics to use (from a stack of coordinating sqaures), he used the presser foot while I steering the fabric under the needle, he cut the chain pieced segments apart, and he pressed them open on the ironing board. He got a bit tired of it all, and started lamenting the fact that there were 23 kids in his class.

"I should have done this last year in kindergarten when there were only 11 of us," he sighed.

I sent the blocks in with him this morning for the teacher to have all the kids sign one, and then we'll hopefully put it together tonight with the upper and lower borders that you can see in the photo above that I made to make it more square. It is only about 30" square, and I plan to machine quilt with some straight stitches. I've even already made the binding!

I also made a couple more of my leader and ender blocks using 1.5" squares (these blocks finish 6.5" square, and the whole purpose is to use up that black floral - I had a bunch of pre-cut 4.5" squares of it that I wanted OUT of my scraps tin).


I also worked on whittling down my stash of strings because they no longer fit in my strings tin. I whipped up a couple more Virginia Bound blocks (an adaptation of a Bonnie Hunter quilt in her Scraps and Shirttails book). I love these blocks, and can't wait until I have enough to sew them together and have a quilt already! (only 37 more blocks to go...ugh! when I put it that way, it seems like it will NEVER happen!)


I've also had time this past week to work on hand quilting my Pick and Choose quilt.

No new photos, but slowly, slowly, it is coming along. Dare I say that I hope to have it done before Christmas? Did I just jinx myself?

I also want to share with everyone the bag that I received from Janet. I won a giveaway on her blog, and she made me this bag. I love it!

She made the handles in a very clever way so you can use them either long or short - genius! And check out her free motion quilting - I am in awe and so envious of her ability!

She included a beautiful fabric postcard that she made, but I forgot to take a photo of it. Thanks so much, Janet!

All caught up! (and giveaway)

The last time I wrote, it was Wednesday and I was in Ecuador, longing to be home. Well, I made it home Saturday afternoon, and spent an exhausting yet exhilarating 3 days there doing a cub scout campout and hosting 12 high school seniors from around the country. Now it is Wednesday again, and I'm writing from another hotel in West Virginia. At least this is a short trip - I'll be home Friday night and then I'll be done traveling for a while.

Travel season is a great time for me to work on embroidery. I am all caught up with my Birdie Stitches BOM - here are the last 3 blocks that I completed, all during travel season.

I'm so glad I discovered embroidery. I don't do anything fancy, but I'm becoming more adept and faster, and I enjoy doing it. I'm thinking of sketching out my own designs for a couple projects.

Do you embroider? If not, would you like some embroidery floss to give it a try? Or if so, can I interest you in some more floss to add to your stash? Our local hobby shop is going out of business, much to the dismay of my boys. The good news is that everything is 50% off, so when I was there with the boys this weekend, I picked up 15 flosses, 3 shades of 5 colors. It's not much, but I offer it to you, my readers. I already have more embroidery floss than I know what to do with, but I couldn't resist buying more, especially at such a great price! I'll see what else I can throw in to sweeten the pot.

Leave a comment by my bedtime on Sunday, October 16 and I'll pick a recipient of the floss on Monday.

***EDITED 10/13/11 to say that I picked up these goodies to add to the giveaway - some embroidery needles, some DMC floss holders, and 2 fat eighths of black and white butterfly fabrics that I picked up at a quilt shop in WV today.***


Since I'm caught up on those blocks, and since this was a driving trip, I brought my Pick and Choose quilt to work on (hand quilting). I hope I make some headway, but honestly, all I want to do is catch up on my sleep! I am so exhausted! But not too exhausted yesterday to sew a bit - I made another snap shut change purse with the metal tape measure I bought for that purpose. I love these cute little things. (tutorial by Wilma can be found here)

I use the one I made before to hold my cash, coins, ID and credit cards. When I pulled it out at work the other day, there were some requests to make more, so I am happily obliging! These will be my stocking stuffers this year as well. What are you making to give away at the holidays this year, anything quick and easy (that I might want to make as well)?

Running out of time (and bread!)

Even though I am stitching a bit on my Pick and Choose quilt a little bit every day, I was dismayed to spread it out this morning and note that I am only working on my FIFTH block of the quilt. There are 25 blocks PLUS sashing and a border to quilt. I am NEVER going to finish!!! My goal was August 15, but I'm starting to think that isn't possible. Phooey!

So, did I sit down and stitch on it some more? Nope! I went down to the sewing room to piddle around a bit. I wanted to practice mitering some more, so I pulled out some border strips that I had inherited from someone cleaning out their stash and added them around this leftover stencil block. Not perfect, but I think I'm getting the hang of mitering.

While doing that, I also sewed a couple of FLURRY rows together.

I removed the extra rows of background fabric in between the rows of gifts so I can make more presents and make the quilt bigger. (remember, I am using up stash, not buying, so I have to make my background fabric stretch as much as possible)

I also started making another of my Pindrop blocks - I'm really feeling compelled to bust some scraps now that I've added a bit of yardage to my stash.

I'm feeling a bit euphoric because I don't have to do ANYTHING after work today. No karate, no pool, no shopping, no nothing! I'm going home to read and sew!

(OK, not exactly true. Last night, while we were watching a movie in our movie theater, the new dog, Rosabelle/Deuce, got a loaf of bread off the counter that I had just bought and ate the WHOLE thing. Ugh! So I have to buy bread so my kids can have sandwiches for lunch at camp, but that's IT! I'm not doing another blessed thing!)

Something for you (Debbie) and something for ME!

The Random Number Generator choose comment #10 from the 17 comments on my Wanna Win the Traveling Stash post - Debbie from North Carolina, send me your address and I'll do my best to cram everything into a box to send your way this week. Thanks for playing along, everyone!

Speaking of playing, yesterday the family traveled to the big city to make a purchase - and iPad2. I see lots of great times in my future with this little gadget. I've already bookmarked some tutorials to try, and how easy it will be to bring that down into my sewing room to follow the tutorial instead of printing out the directions. Plus, when I just have 5 minutes to spare, I can easily be online in moments and check someone's blog, rather than waste those 5 minutes waiting for my desktop to boot up. I LOVE IT!!

Unfortunately, so does my 8-year-old son, so he's been on it much more than me.


That's OK, though, because I'm supposed to be sewing, right? I finished my first block on the Pick and Choose quilt...I think. (click on the quilt photos to see them larger and in more detail)

As I mentioned before, I didn't have a plan before I started hand quilting this, just sat down with a needle to see where it would take me. It was terribly angular, so the quarter circle curves in the neutral triangles are my attempt to balance it out a bit. Opinions, anyone? Is it quilted enough, or does it need more? One thing I considered was making the curve a double line, but is that overkill or unnecessary? I'm trying to keep in mind that there are 24 more blocks, sashing and a border to quilt, so I don't want to do more than I'll want to do 24 more times over.

Here's the back.

See how many of the lines just stop? Is that problematic? Should I connect those interior points?

I think I'm going to sit on this before I decide if I need more quilting in each block, but feel free to chime in!

Hot Stuff!

June's materials for the Bee that I belong to arrived on Monday - chili pepper fabrics!

We could make any block we wanted but had to include some white fabric signed with our name and location. I wanted to highlight some of the larger individual peppers, so I came up with this log cabin configuration.

I'm hosting the end-of-the-year gathering for my office at my house tomorrow, so I'm spending much more time tidying up than sewing, but I did get started hand quilting the Pick and Choose quilt. I had no real idea how I wanted to quilt it, and was poring over books and still coming up with nothing, so finally I just hooped it, put it on my lap, and started stitching. I think I like what I'm doing, but I'll reserve judgement until I put a few more stitches in tonight before bed. I promise photos tomorrow, but in the meantime, be sure to comment on my last post if you want to be included in THE TRAVELING STASH drawing on Friday evening.

The problem with puttering

I putter. I start this, get distracted, start that, take a quick break, see something else that needs doing, and so on and so on. This happens around the house all the time. Yesterday, I got a lot done - weeding, mulching, purging clothes we don't wear/fit anymore, purging kitchen items to get rid of, sweeping - but I didn't FINISH anything.

The same is true in the sewing room, but for the month of June, I am committed to finishing some things. I've joined up with Rubyslipperz (see the button on my sidebar?) to get some things done in June. Each finish gives me another chance to win her giveaway, but even if I don't win, at least I'll have accomplished something. I hope to:

finish the ELLA quilt for my high school friend

get caught up on the Birdie BOM - I still haven't done May or June

put a sleeve on my Great Great Grandmother's quilt - this is my entry for the quilt show at the county fair this July and it needs a sleeve

and make a couple covered dish/casserole carriers for some friends from a pattern I found in a magazine.

Last night, I actually did finish the quilting items on my to-do list for the weekend. The first was to finish the April Birdie BOM - this one is one of my favorite blocks so far, so simple. I left off the Easter eggs that were sprinkled around on the block to simplify things:

The second item on the weekend to-do list was to sandwich the Pick and Choose quilt that I sold at the Old Middlebrook Village Day last month which needs to be hand quilted this summer. I've been looking forward to the quilting, but I can't stand basting! And ironing all of the backing was misery, even with my BIG ironing board. But, it is done and in a hoop and ready for me to put some stitches in every day (that's the plan, anyway):

Of course, first, I need to come up with a plan for my quilting...

Angela knows me WELL!

I only have a moment to write during a break at our office retreat, but I HAD TO SHARE yesterday's squishy mail. Any of you from the old blog remember Pay It Forward? Well, I received my Pay It Forward gift from Angela yesterday, just out of the blue. What a treat! Not only did she send this scrappy little mini-quilt (I think I'm going to use it as a placemat for my tea parties for one!), she also sent these romantic floral 5" charm squares. Thank you so much, Angela!


Speaking of scrappy, I have finished the blocks and the sashing for my Pick and Choose quilt. Here it is on the design wall, not yet sewn together.

I could look at this quilt all day - there are easily over a hundred different fabrics in there, from batiks and novelty to 1930s repro and Civil War repro and everything in between. Here's a close-up of some blocks chosen at random.

All I have left is to finish piecing the half-square triangle border blocks and sew it all together. Perhaps I can get it done during this long weekend. It is definitely one of my favorite quilts.

Anyway, we are on a two-day office retreat. Long meetings and lots of information, but my co-workers are some of the best possible, and we have lots of fun, too. We are spending tonight at the Fort Lewis Lodge. Check it out and see the hardships I have to suffer! I've got my suit for the hot tub and the kayak, and I am prepared to kick some butt tonight at ping pong and pool and whatever other fun we can rustle up after dinner.

Ready, set, cut!

I stayed up WAAAY too late last night cutting fabric. I couldn't resist seeing what was in the scrap bag I was given yesterday, and I found quite a few scraps big enough to cut additional pieces for my Pick and Choose quilt. While cutting those out, I also did some "scrap management" cutting. You can see here the scraps I cut for my project in the back, and my scrap management piles in the front, with sizes ranging from 1.5" to 5" squares. I have tins of all different sizes that I collect to keep my scraps in. Then when I need some, they are already pre-cut. Of course, that only works because most of what I make is so scrappy.
In the photo, it doesn't look like much, but believe me, that is hours of ironing and cutting you see before you. Well, hours interrupted by kids and husband and pets and calls of nature, but you get the picture.

Another thing I found in the scrap bag was bias tape. What is this for? Anyone? Do I keep it or pass it along? I don't know how it is used.


It just ocurred to me last night that I will see my twin sister in a mere week and a half, and the plan was to have my Crumb Cake Stand quilt finished for her.
I haven't quilted on it in quite some time. Gotta hop to it. I am stippling (by hand) the background in the center CakeStand block, and it is slow going.

Oh well, I work better with looming deadlines anyway.

And once that is done, I need to start hand quilting something else. My kids, my mom, my younger sister, my niece and nephew, even some strangers who received my comfort quilts - they all get to sleep under a quilt. Me, I have an ancient comforter from a department store with the stitching coming out. It is time to put one on MY bed! I started quilting this one for my bed a couple years ago when I held an old fashioned quilting bee at my house - what fun!

(Sorry, I guess I never took a picture of the whole quilt) But in the meantime, I've pieced others that I also wouldn't mind having on my bed, particularly this one

I wouldn't mind this cozy flannel one on my bed, either, but I think my husband might protest.

This one would be welcome on my bed, but it is SO LARGE it would take me forever to quilt it.


By the way, someone asked about the pattern for the Pick and Choose quilt that I am making. I got it from the June 2009 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. If you want a copy of the pattern, I'd be happy to photocopy it for you and pop it in the mail - send me an email with your mailing address. Here's what it is supposed to look like when finished (draped over an antique bench that you just happen to have in your home).


And finally, I apologize to those of you trying to view this with dial-up if all the pictures are slowing you down; I just love posts with lots to look at! Happy Wednesday!