Sister's Choice Quilts

Wait, What? What on Earth?

There is no room in the studio for a new project.  No room.  So where did these strips end up?  Why, on the arm of the rocking chair of course.  Strips?  What strips?  The only strips you should be working with are the red French General strips for your Pineapple blocks.

Ok, so those are very cute strips.  But what are they for?  What are you doing?  You have six projects going on that you need to focus on and finish.  What on earth is up with this?  What happened to your vow and resolution to FOCUS?  One thing at a time and all that?

Oh for heaven's sake shut up.  Yeah.  I know.  Pretty cute, aren't they?  Everyone in Blogdom is making a scrappy trip around the world quilt.  Why would I want to miss out?

Seriously, I had about two hours today and I made those two blocks.  Oh, and then I started messing with these...

There is certainly more to this story.  That Devil Angel on my shoulder is sure a pain.

Why Oh Why

Why oh why have I left things so late?  What was I thinking?  It is November and my son in law is asking me what holiday items I am going to sell in his shop during November and December.  Can I bring a few things in for next weekend?

Good question.  Oh dear oh dear oh dear.  Why didn't I get on board with Carol of Carol's Crafty Creations this summer and crank out clever Christmasy things well in advance of when they would be needed?

Ok, so now I have to scramble.  I need to make at least six to eight sets of mug rugs, six to eight zippy bags, and at least six table runners.  Like by next week.

You may remember awhile back (2008!) I was experimenting with shabby chic blended quilt fabrics.  I ended up making twice the number of blocks I needed because I decided to go with only the neutral blocks for my quilt.  Love that quilt.

So, anyway, since I only used the neutral blocks,  I had all the colorful blocks left over and decided to use them to make elegant holiday table runners to sell in the shop.  You see one I finished at the top of this post.  I think it works because I have a ton of the black floral fabric to use as a border and backing for the runners.  Things all tie in well I hope.

I need to piece the blocks together (three per runner), add the borders and backings and quilt them.  Six of them.  By next weekend.

You saw my progress with the red and white mug rugs.  Those are still in the works.  Five sets of four to make, and he says that isn't enough. 

Oh, and what about the zippy bags, you ask? 

I found this great assortment of Rhubarb and Ginger fabrics in my stash.  I think they will make pretty, and seasonally appropriate zippy bags.  With any luck, people will find them pretty enough to want to give them as gifts this holiday season.  I have the zippers on order, but as you can plainly see, I have yet to do one single thing other than select fabrics.

This week I will be burning the midnight oil for certain.  Do check in with me and see what I have been able to accomplish.  Ready, start, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Kill Me Now

This could be a wordless post, but of course I can't resist the opportunity to use words when I have the occasion.

I just do not know what happened to me over the past two months.  My asthma was acting up this winter, and I lost about 10 pounds.  Bad about the asthma, hallelujah about losing weight.  So, I got back on my meds early this spring, and feel a hundred times better.

Guess I have been celebrating that fact by eating lots of the wrong kinds of food.  It is quite amazing how quickly one can gain 10 pounds....

The good thing is, we are going into summer, and the best sorts of foods for losing weight are all around me.  You know what I would love?  A good smoothie recipe.  I want one that is Weight Watcher friendly, and not one that equat es to 8 points or something.  A nice smoothie I can whip up for breakfast that starts my day with four or five points max.

Anyone have a smoothie recipe they would like to share?

 

Inspiration, Where Have You Gone?

I have felt more or less paralyzed with ennui the past couple of days.  After seeing that the house is tidied, the dishes done, Grandpa fed, and Ozzie walked, I find myself feeling at loose ends and terribly tired.  Maybe it is the let down of having my son and his fiance return to Ireland.  I don't know.  All I can say is that nothing seems very exciting or worth doing.  Yesterday I mentioned heavy napping--that is still going on!  Hoping I am not sick, and that this will pass.

One thing that will help me perk up big time is the arrival of the cabinetry for my quilting studio.  Yes, the cabinets have been ordered!  I got a message that they will be shipped on Feb. 16th.  So, after maybe a week of travel time, and a week to arrange for their installation,  I could be out there in the studio unpacking my boxes of fabric and quilting supplies.

Can you believe I packed up my passion last June?  June.  And it is still boxed up.  Oh, I have rummaged a bit, and dug out some essentials, but for the most part, all my quilt related belongings (and the majority of my quilts) have been taped up in boxes, stacked in neat rows in my garage.  For eight months.  Most of a year.  No wonder I am losing my mind.

I wandered down to the studio yesterday afternoon in hopes I would get that "feeling".  You know, that feeling you get when you fondle your fabric, glance through some favorite quilting books, dream of future projects.  It didn't happen.  It made me realize how visual I am, and how so much of my inspiration comes from looking through my quilting magazines and special books.  "Oh, yes!",  I think, "I have always meant to make that pattern!  Mustn't forget that one".  I am craving a good browse through my Kim Diehl books.  And the dictionary of quilt blocks by Judy Hopkins, with her measurements to make them in all sorts of different sizes.  I miss sitting in my sewing room, quilt book in hand, stacks of fabric and bundles in plain view.  "Oh, my gosh, how great would this pattern look with the new Blackbird Designs collection!"  "I really must join this applique block of the month program".  "How cute would that bag pattern be made up in that Fig Tree (Kate Spain, Bonnie and Camille, Sweetwater, etc, etc) group!"

That just hasn't been happening and I miss it so much.  For the first time in my life I feel disconnected from my quilting.  I know I will get the feeling back, especially once my space is sorted out.  But right now I sure do have the blahs!

flickr image

New Year, New Me

Here I am letting go of the past year.  Letting it unfurl in the wind and blow away.  That's what I love about the New Year.  It is such a chance for new beginnings, new hopes and fresh starts.  Without going into detail, let me just say the past year was too full of death (my best friend and my mother in law), injuries (my husband fell off a truck!), new responsibilities (assuming care of my 90 year old father in law), and misfortunes (of the financial sort).  Things have at last settled down and we are establishing a new "normal" and I am happy to move on with the things that I enjoy.

2011 wasn't a complete bust.  We did celebrate the birth of my beautiful grand daughter Evangeline, who has thrived and grown and added indescribable joy to our lives.  My son did move to Ireland, and seems deliriously happy with his fiancee and his new job.  They will visit us in February, which we are very much looking forward to.

I have to share this.   I found the image when I was looking for something along the lines of "Moving On".  It didn't evoke precisely what I was going for, but you have to admit the image has a certain power:

lol, all righty then. Sometimes you just have to get up and walk away.  Nothing more to be done here folks.  Seriously dude, you can give up on the mouth to mouth.  Her lungs are three feet away.  (Just to be clear, that is not a real person--it is a crash dummy).

So, does the fact that it is a new year mean you have to make a list of resolutions?  I always vow to lose the 5 pounds I put on over the holidays, and usually manage to do so before they turn into 10 pounds.  Or 20.  Oh dear, one time I let it get the best of my and before I knew it, I had 40 pounds to lose.  Don't let that happen to you.  Take it right off while it is temporary fat, before it settles in and becomes firmly attached.  Fruit salad and soup of any kind for a couple of weeks does the trick I am telling you.

I do have a million ideas for sewing projects jostling around in my head. With all the added responsibilities that have fallen in my lap over the past number of months, I haven't had a chance to do anything of interest.  My studio is progressing at a snail's pace (due to the issues I alluded to above), but I have made some progress.  The hardwood flooring has been laid, and hopefully the cabinetry will be installed by the end of the month.  The other details are the frosting on the cake, and can be added little by little over the next few months.  I have a great idea for a sewing table that I will share with you, and plan to get a sewing station set up so I can work on a few projects.  Lots of UFOs to finish up, and a couple of ideas for new projects.

It's good to be back and I appreciate all your sweet emails telling me I was missed.  Gosh.  You all are so great!  Talk to you tomorrow.  Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

Well, That Didn't Go Well

Let me just say that I still think curved piecing is fabulous, and I am a huge admirer of anyone who can do it.  It just turns out, I am not so good at it.  I wasted a fair bit of time and fabric yesterday trying to make Winding Ways blocks.  I made around seven of them and maybe one was real good, one wasn't too bad, and five were puckered messes. 

I even tried hand basting the blocks to get them right.  Even that failed to get smooth, flat, seams-that-line-up blocks.  Frustrated?  Yes indeed.  Let's just say that project got put in the circular file.  Luckily, I was just playing around with fabric from my stash.

The entire day wasn't wasted though!  I got all my Belle Meade rows sewn together and the containment border sewn on.  Today I will attach the outer border.  Look for Thelma and I to do a reveal of our finished quilts on Friday.

I won't give up entirely on curved piecing.  I have an idea for a green and white Drunkard's Path table topper for St. Patrick's Day....

Added later:  Be sure to check out all the great links commenters have left to this post.  I just watched a You Tube video link where a woman demonstrated stitching a Drunkard's Path block without pins!  Great tutorials out there!

iPod Woes

I have had my iPod for several years.  There are more elaborate versions available now, but since mine is perfectly serviceable, I decided that I am not ready to upgrade at this time.  So what's the problem?

Well, when I got this iPod, I had a Mac computer.  All my tunes were downloaded on this Mac.  I don't have a Mac computer anymore.  I now have a Dell laptop.  And any of you who know about iPods know that if you plug your Mac oriented iPod into a PC, you have to re-format it, and thereby lose everything that you have previously downloaded.

You have to start over with a clean blank slate. 

I have not wanted to do that, since it takes hours and hours to download a CD collection to an iPod, not to mention all the iTunes I purchased that now don't show up anymore in my iTunes library.  Time consuming and frustrating to the max.

But this past weekend I decided to do it.  See the adorable French General sachet bag in the picture above?  (Thanks Carrie!)  Well, it is the perfect size to put my iPod in.  This was the impetus I needed to bite the bullet and start over again with my iPod.  

How do you store your CDs?  It can be a real issue if you have a large collection.  About six or eight years ago, I got rid of all the plastic cases that our CDs were stored in and put them into four CD binders.  I have one for classical music, one for jazz music, one for rock music and one smaller one for Christmas music.

It is a great storage solution, since it takes up far less space than dealing with all the CDs in their plastic boxes.  However, you still have to keep them somewhat organized so you can find what you are looking for and of course, you have to actually *put them back* when you are finished listening to them.  Neither one of those things is my family very good at.  After a party, for instance, we have stacks of CDs to return to the binders, and it often doesn't happen.

So, the idea of storing ALL our favorite CDs on an iPod seems brilliant to me.  We have two iPod docking stations in our house, and all you have to do is mount your iPod on it, choose the album (or Playlist) you want and listen away.  The speakers are made by Bose, so the sound is really good.

 

Good idea, huh?  I am all for simplifying things and this is one option.  So, I better get back to my downloading....

I Need a Vacation

I need a vacation.  Some place warm.  With a view of water.  I am all ready to go.  Cute tote bag?  Check. 

White roll up cuff capris?  Check.

Honestly.  It is so darn cold and windy around here, it isn't even funny any more.  I want some sunshine.  Temps at least somewhere in the 70's. 

Today the sun was out and the skies were blue.  But it was windy and in the high 50's.  Not at all what I am dreaming of.  I wore my open toed espadrilles and my big toes froze all day long.  I know I am jumping the season, but man, oh man, do I crave some warm temperatures.

So, not having that, I started thinking about spring cleaning.  I know this is a stretch, but I can at least get warm weather ready, right?  So, I went shopping for cleaning products.  I do this every now and then so I can feel as though I am doing something in the direction of making my home ready for the days of warmth and leisure to come. 

I went to Target and picked up some Febreze, some Clorox products,  some Pledge Multi Surface Cleaner, and some other house cleaning aids.

 

Allrighty then. I did spray the Febreze around, but the rest of the products are sitting on my kitchen counter waiting for me to do something with them.  Tomorrow.

If I can't get away for a vacation, at least I can stay home and make my home a spa like destination, right?  Right.

I dream of myself wearing flip flops and drinking a strawberry margarita.

It's Not My Eye, It's My Nose

Well.  For goodness sake.

I just got home from seeing the doctor, and the problem I have isn't with my eye, it is with my sinuses.  I have chronic troubles there, and those issues can affect other nearby areas within the face. 

He says I have polyps in my sinus cavities, and that is causing all my woes.  Did I mention that I have lost my sense of smell?  Very weird, and inconvenient.  Lots of eye watering, nose blowing, snoring, and congestion.  And I have let it go on way too long.  Until my eye swelled shut, good grief.  Why are sinus issues so easy to ignore?  I am scheduled for a CT scan next week, and will probably have minor surgery to get myself fixed up.

So, that's the answer believe it or not!

On a more cheery note, I have resigned from one of my part time jobs (the fun one that didn't pay so well).  My remaining job will occupy me for about 24 hours a week, and guess what I will be doing with my extra free time? 

You guessed it!  It involves fabric....

Good Bornig

All I want to do is sew.  I had an entire day all to myself yesterday, and what do you think happened?  Yup, I woke up with a  raging sore throat and a vicious cold.  I spent almost the whole day in my bed.  Sophie didn't get all her required exercise and attention and this morning she is a candidate for doggie ritalin.  I tell you, my luck has been pretty crumby lately.

I did get the other two corners of Flowers for Clara appliqued on, and now that quilt is ready to go to the quilters.  This quilt is going to be on my bed as soon as possible!

While I have your attention, I wanted to mention the foot I use when I do applique.  It is a Bernina number 20.  The foot is metal, but is completely open at the "toe".  That way, it is easier to see what I am doing.  Bernina makes a plastic see through version also, but why not just go for the open version?

A couple of people have inquired what sort of sewing machine I use.  The one I use at home is a Bernina Quilter's Edition.  I have had this machine for a lo-o-o-o-o-ong time, and it has served me well.  The only mishap I have had is that for awhile I was carrying it in my car to take to sewing groups, and somehow it got jostled (fell over) and now the light doesn't work.  Those lights never go out, so I know it is just a matter of someone who knows what they are doing jiggling it back into place.  I have it serviced periodically, but it is way over due for a tune up.  It is a real workhorse, and I love it so much that my next machine will also be a Bernina.  (Surely there will be another machine in my future?)  Buy a Bernina, you will have it forever!

 

Today, since I am feeling more or less human again, and think I can stay awake for at least six hours at a stretch, I plan to get back to work on my Red and White Snowball quilt.  I think tomorrow we should all check in with each other to see what kind of progress is going on!