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Oh dear. I know I said I wasn't going to start anything new. I know I said I have way too many UFOs and need to just focus on one of them and finish something.
Here it is, June 28, as I write this. The Another Year of Schnibbles deadline is the 30th. I have to check on Grandpa twice a day. I have Eva all day long. I work all day on Saturday.
Seriously. I do not have time for this.
When on earth will I find any time to work on this project?
I gotta get it done, I just gotta. The 4th of July will soon be upon us, and I surely would like to have this on my table a bit in advance of the holiday.
Finished the quilting on my Doc Schnibble. Well, it isn't the greatest quilting job in the world, and in fact may be in the lower 10th percentile, but hey, when it's washed, maybe it will look ok. I did my "Stitch Vaguely in the Vicinity of the Ditch" method. Criminey, you'd think at this point in my quilting life, I maybe could sew in a straight line, wouldn't you? Hah.
In other news, Grandpa had a check up with his surgeon this week and got clearance to start using his walker. Hopefully, with a bit of practice, he can ditch the wheel chair, which I think was becoming a hazard. He is on top of the world, enjoying the view of the golf course, watching Hummingbird Wars, and is particularly amused by a big blue jay who is trying to eat the bird seed out of his new feeder. Mr. Jay does all sorts of acrobatics in order to get at the goods. Grandpa is watering his new plants and spending lots of time on the back porch getting fresh air.
Hope you all are having a splendid week!
The new Miss Rosie's Quilt Company patterns are now available! The pattern on the far left is called Bounce (sorry, I cut off the bottom in my excitement to take the picture), and was pieced by my friend Thelma (Cupcakes 'n' Daisies), and quilted by the amazing Linda Hrcka (Quilted Pineapple). I cannot wait to make that quilt! The Schnibbles patterns look awesome as well, and it will be fun to see how they play in the Another Year of Schnibbles line up Sinta and Sherri are doing. So, run right over to the Miss Rosie store and order yourself some of these fabulous patterns and start sewing! You can get them instantly in a PDF download if you don't want to wait for them to be mailed to you.
I had a birthday recently, and used some of my birthday largess to pick up a couple of things I have been hankering for.
The fabric bundle on the left is Seasonal Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings for Moda. I got a fat eighths bundle of 50 different fabrics, and not a bad one in the lot! I am envisioning a Fall quilt, a Christmas quilt.... There are dark greens, blacks, browns, oranges, rusts, reds, tans and purples in this collection. Two patterns that have a lot of possibilities came from Country Sampler, along with the roll of fat quarter neutral prints.
My loot is all gone, but if you have any spare change burning a hole in your pocket, these are some awesome ways to spend it!
Nothing major going on around here. Or maybe I am wrong and a lot of something is actually happening.
I was Good Cop in my talk with Grandpa. Everyone else has been reading the poor man the riot act after his falls last week. I emphasized how he was incredibly lucky that he had not been injured in his two falls, where paramedics had to be called twice to get him up off the floor and back into his wheel chair. I told him that I thought that perhaps his quota of luck may have just been used up and that he absolutely could not afford to take any more risks with his health. He is so happy in his little cottage and enjoys his contact with his family so much--if he breaks a hip, God forbid, he could go into a hospital and never come out. He promised not to try to stand up out of his wheel chair again, until his doctor gives him the go-ahead. I am actually hoping when he sees the doctor today, he will be told to give up the wheel chair and move up to a walker. I think the walker will provide more stability than the prone to roll wheel chair.
I fixed up his porch all pretty, and he has been enjoying the bird activity, especially the hummingbirds. They are crazy up here in the Sierra Foothills. My gosh, I created Hummingbird Wars, right on Grandpa's porch, just by hanging a feeder! You should see those little devils, dive bombing each other when one comes too close to the feeder. Can't they share? The ones in MY yard know how to share.
I wanted to machine quilt my patriotic themed Doc Schnibble (in the photo at the top of my post) this weekend, but ended up having to work. I definitely will make it a priority this week!
Hope you all had a lovely weekend!
I surely seem to be obsessed with my Fig Tree stash lately. Am I in danger of Figging Out? Well, wigging out maybe, but not due to my total immersion in this pretty fabric.
So far, these lovely soft tones are just what I need to soothe my my raggedy psyche.
I finished up three more Kiss Me blocks yesterday and even though I swore I wasn't starting anything new, I made two blocks of the 2011 Designer Mystery BOM using Fig Tree's Strawberry Fields. My rationalization was that it wasn't really something new, since it fit perfectly into the BOM Rehab category. After all, this project is a year old and now can be considered a UFO, even though I hadn't technically started it. Does that all make your head hurt too? Ok, enough.
This is Block Two, designed by Pam Buda. I really love it, but seriously Pam? Could you have designed a block with a few more pieces? lol Some beginner quilts have this many pieces in the entire top. We can't accuse this designer of "dumbing down" anything. It was fun to sit and concentrate on getting all these litle bitty shapes to fit together like they were supposed to. Takes my mind right off my real life, which frankly is a bit too dramatic this week.
Grandpa fell again, and through some miracle, again was not injured. We are having some very serious talks over the next few days, so wish us luck.
Hey, everyone, how is your week going? My Wednesday was a lot better than the earlier part of the week, that's for sure. I finally said "No" to a commitment that has been making me unhappy and stressing me out, and I feel as if the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. Between caring for sweet Baby E, lovely Grandpa, and working two part time jobs in town, somethin' had to give. One of the part time jobs is over, and I am sitting here asking myself why I didn't do it sooner. Do any of you do that? Hang on in a situation that is miserable, or at best, going nowhere? Why do we do that?
Spent the latter half of the afternoon in the studio stitching. You can see my progress on the Kiss Me blocks--nine done, seven to go. Didn't work on Dresden plates, but they are sitting there, encouraging me.
The red and aqua block on the far right is the first block of the latest Designer Mystery BOM, sponsored by the Fatquartershop. Instead of receiving all the blocks and letting the project sit ignored all year, I decided to do something radically different and actually construct the thing the same month I received it.
Here it is before cutting:
Pretty fabrics, and the most adorable little mini charm pack of 2 1/2 inch squares! I am sure Moda has given it a too-cute-for-words name, Petit Fours? Truffle? Amuse Bouche? No instructions on how to use it, but it is sweet all the same.
So here is the finished block:
Oh yes, I do like this. And I am vowing right now, in front of God and everyone, that I WILL keep up with this BOM.
So here is an unsolved mystery:
Why is there so much fabric left over? This is not typical of FQS BOMs. Usually they have the amount of needed fabric figured out down to a thread. Will we use the leftovers for a scrappy border? Any guesses?
We had a marvelous vacation last week, and arrived safely back home in time for a little Father's Day barbeque. The lake in the photo above is Mosquito Lake, which we passed on our way home.
Since it was Father's Day, we indulged my son in law a stop. He just couldn't resist. This guy is always ready to cast his line in any available water, I tell you. Such a simple pleasure, and he enjoys it so much. Isn't the setting amazing? I could have sat there on the bank of the lake all day long.
Such lovliness.
Tiny pins, tiny needles, tiny stitches, and extremely tiny thread. On this vacation, I brought along a couple of my Dresden Plates to applique onto background squares. I haven't done any applique for going on a year, so I was a bit apprehensive as to how quick I could get up to speed.
Well, I am telling you, it beats the heck out of embroidery. I was flying along sewing down these Dresden units! I am using a teensy applique needle, my miniscule applique pins, and thread that is about as fine as a spiders silk. You can't help but take itty bitty stitches with this thread, I am telling you. I finished one entire plate in about a half hour or so, and the stitches are practically invisible.
I am loving it!
I finished up a Birdie Stitches block as well, and that took ever so much longer to do. It seems as if it takes me longer to get my mojo back when I start up my embroidery after letting it sit for awhile. This block did turn out pretty cute though. Adorable flowers.
Have a great weekend everyone. Hope the sun is shining where you are and your family is near by.
Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here!
Yesterday we just hung out by the pool and relaxed. We took Baby E in the water and she loved it, the little fishy. Today we are planning a picnic at Fallenleaf Lake, and an afternoon massage for Sara and I. It is so lovely to be on a real vacation!
I took your advice and had my son in law drive us over to Gardnerville to visit The Quilt House, which was indeed a terrific shop. They have been in Quilt Sampler twice now, and had a great inventory. Really nice staff people acknowledged us, and had just the right balance of friendliness and helpfulness. I didn't buy much--just a couple of patterns, some embroidery floss and some little scissors, but thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the projects on the walls. I asked permission to take a picture and although they don't permit it generally, they let me take this one:
The little basket quilt is called French Ribbons, and is one of the shop's own patterns. It is at the printers right now, but they will call me when it is available and send it to me. Isn't that border adorable?
I had to pay a little price for my SIL taking me to a quilt shop. He made me go to the largest sporting goods store I ever saw in my life afterwards!
I just have to share this fun tutorial with you all. I saw it on Pinterest, believe it or not, and just had to make one. This little project was so fun and fast, you can be sure I will be making lots more of them.
Seriously, watch this video, featuring Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet, making these fun travel bags. You will end up making a few of them as well, I promise.
Lori also has the tutorial on her blog, Bee In My Bonnet. I made mine in less than a half hour, using two fat quarters. Honestly, this little bag would be perfect for a shoe bag, a hand sewing supply bag, or, as I am using it, a hair products bag. My hair tools, shampoos, hair spray and combs and brushes all fit in it just perfectly, and everything is all together, just as I like it.
You could probably make yours in less than a half hour. I had the handicap of having a baby crawling around under my legs while I was trying to sew!