Short Post, Laundry's Awaiting

Sorry I missed my post yesterday. I thought about it off and on all day, but never sat down to do it. Then I went to a friend's graduation celebration dinner, followed by her graduation, and just never remembered again until this morning.

Let's not forget the first setback of the morning. My computer harddrive (that houses windows) finally snapped. It is no more. I must wait for a new harddrive and hope I didn't have anything too serious on it.

When the thought of posting did finally arrive, it was after 3 separate meetings, all of which Nate would not sit still or listen to Mommy during, and just before I finally got Nate down for a nap (2 hours late). At that point, I was soo frazzled, nothing was going to get done.

Now I don't really have time to write much. I have several loads of laundry waiting to be folded, a counter covered in dishes (which my husband kindly pointed out when he got home from work), several movies from Netflix to watch, and not much to report anyway. So I shall humbly bow out for tonight and try again on Saturday night.

May fortune smile upon you.

Handwork

I like rules. And I like to give myself rules (and schedules, but I will save that for another time perhaps).

One of the rules that I have given myself for handwork, is that when I start a new thread I have to baste a hexagon for my 1-Inch Hexagon Quilt. Then if I have everything for the flower, I make the flower.

While this does extend the time it takes to bind or applique, it also insures that I am still working on the hexagons (my first quilt).

Project Organization

My room had gotten out of control again, making it hard to actually get to the projects I knew were nearly done. So I decided to clean up and organize my sewing projects.

As you can see in the day and a half since it was organized, my son's toys have managed to migrate back into my room.

But now I can actually see the projects based on what still needs to be done.

The next goal is to get enough of the loose projects done that I can fit all of the current projects into the bin. When I get too many, I start to have issues with anxiety and difficulty trying to pick which one to work on. Just have to take it one step at a time.

Christmas is Under Way

 Family Christmas gifts have been started. I know it is still early for them, but if the last few years have taught me anything, it's that you never know what will happen between January and December.

The blocks for the first one are done, and waiting to be arranged and sewn together.

 The second is in 3 separate piles...

...but the blocks are starting to come together. I think the chances of getting these done at this point is high.

Though there have been other Christmases where I thought the same thing, and then nothing actually got finished.

Marion's Birthday

 Recently, Marion of My Quilt Diet had a birthday. She has done a lot to help me feel included in this great big quilting world. So when I heard it was her birthday, I had an idea pop in my head as a gift. A fabric flower bouquet.

I wanted to be able to use fat quarters in colors I thought she would like, so that she could use them later in the many, many, many quilts she makes. I tried looking on the web for tutorials on how to do this, and instead kept finding flowers made from strips of fabric that are rolled, twisted, and glued.

Then while trying to get the big flower (bottom right) to a size I could manage, I realized that it was similar to folded cloth napkins. Pinterest showed me how to do the smaller flowers. Put them on kebob sticks and in a pretty vase with glass beads, and the present was completed. Thanks for letting me do this for you, Marion.

Marsha's Baby Girl

My Best Friend had her baby girl this week. This is the one I that received the peach baby blanket. They even included it in their stuff for taking Baby Girl, Kaitlynn, home. I'm still getting used to calling her something other than Baby Girl.

Here the blanket is finished at the baby shower. I didn't have to put a name on it since Marsha knew who had made it.

Marsha tried using it to practice her peekaboo skills with the camera for the first shot.

Here is baby girl all ready to leave the hospital. I think she has some of her Aunt Katie's spunk already, her tongue is most definitely sticking out.

Medallion Round Robin

Some of my quilty lady friends and I are beginning a medallion round robin. We are to provide a center and then it will make it's way around the group and get bigger as it goes. We are to add borders to each of them. Thus making, a friendship quilt. This is the start of my center. It is a butterfly in case you can't tell. I still have to work out a background for the butterfly, and I will be attempting to applique it on. We'll see how well it goes. I will also be adding antenna, I just haven't gotten that done yet. This is English Paper Pieced.

Car Quilt-On Point

This quilt is just another variant of the car quilt I have already pieced. The first one is actually going to go in my husbands car, and I am claiming this one. I couldn't decide when I started if I wanted to do the blocks on point or straight across, so I decided to go with both, which works great since we have two cars.

This is just the beginning of it (bigger blocks on top not included). Much of the organizing (of the randomness) and several of the rows of blocks were pieced at a wonderful sew week hosted by another quilty friend, just after my parents left. It was great to get to sew without having to start acknowledging the fact that my parents were gone again (and that meant cleaning up the bedding and such from their visit). At the end of the week, I was ready to clean up and reclaim my quilt room (it really isn't big enough for 2 quilters).

And I do apologize for the repeat of the picture. If I managed to get more done on this before this posts then I will try to change the picture. Otherwise, this is the only picture I have of this, thus far.

Design Wall

Woot! My design wall is finally completely up. We had the top half up before my parents came to visit. It was nice to have when my mom was working on arranging a quilt. After my parents left, and I'd had time to clean my quilt room back up from the daily whirlwind shopping, and the nighttime quilting, my husband and I put the bottom half up. We made sure to cut out a hole for the light switch and another hole for the electrical outlets, so I didn't have to give up either (would have been hard to sew with no lights).

I love it. It is insulation foam and vinyl tablecloths. This means that almost everything I'm working on will stick to it, and if it doesn't I can pin it to the board. My husband is such a sweetie for helping me with it. After we finished, he informed me he would not put up another one even if we move. We'll just have to see about that, I'm sure he will come around once he sees how much this one will be used, but never fear, neither of us are planning on moving anytime soon, so this may not even matter.

A Castle

 I helped tend my neighbor kids this weekend (4/19) and they have loved playing with these blocks. They organize them for me, and they play with Nate with them. These blocks were Nate's main Christmas present in 2011. (yes he was still super little) He loves them. Especially the longer ones. He holds them up to his ear like a cell phone. For awhile we couldn't even leave the house without him having a block in his hand. We joked that it was his comfort block, since he hasn't really been big on insisting he have anything else when we leave the house.

But this week when the kids were here, Nate happened to still be napping, so they decided they wanted to make a castle. it is complete with a covered drive leading to the castle and little ponds (circles). I loved it and knew I needed to share.

A Wedding

While I'd love to say that the reason my parents were here to visit was because they just wanted to spend time with me. The real reason for the visit was for my older brother's wedding.

It was a lovely little ceremony and dinner. Afterwards during all the pictures the kids were running around outside. Nate had a blast running with the bigger kids in this little side strip of grass. He would chase the big kids back and forth and back and forth.

I really think he is going to love being able to go outside and enjoy the nice weather this year.

Sew Day

 While my parents were here, I decided to host a sew day to introduce some of my quilty friends to my mom (on my dad's birthday). It turned out great. They were generous enough to be my guinea pigs for a new taco soup recipe, which I loved and have now entered into my food rotations, and we got a lot done.

This is sadly the only picture I got that I am allowed to post, since all the ladies said I could not post them. This was Sue's workstation. She was working on a wonderful blue quilt. And in the background you can just make out my best friend and the quilt she's been working on for 6 years. She handpieced all but the sashing and borders, and is in the process of handquilting it. All she has left to do, is to quilt something in her borders (and bind it of course). I can't wait to see it when it's all done, though it may be a bit since this is the friend whose baby girl is due at the end of the month.

My mom worked on a wool applique tablerunner, April worked on a special quilt, and Konda came to visit, too. And little old (young) me worked on cutting more squares for more car quilts for Christmas. We'll see if I can manage to do them.

Back to Quilting

Car Quilt-Straight, is now done. Ok. So it isn't completely done, but the top is completely pieced. I have also managed to pin it and baste around the edges to prepare to quilt it. I have plans for quilting it, I just need to have a quilting foot first. So, for now it is on hold until that magically appears in my quilting room. The left picture is when all the big squares had been placed and it was ready for the final sew together, and the bottom is when I had them all sewn together.

Guinea Pig Cage Liners

While we had guinea pigs it was a constant fight to try to keep the mess and the smell to a minimum. This is not a fight we really won, but we did get it down quite a bit.

We started with pine bedding, which the guinea pigs would kick up out of their cage, every time we walked into the room and they ran for cover.

Then we decided we needed a sturdier bedding that could be washed, and that the guinea pigs little paws could grip. This was accomplished using fleece and terry cloth to make a flat layer bedding sheet for them (fleece and 2 layers of terry cloth). I tried putting some velcro in the corners to hold it to the cage floor, but this didn't work.

This would have worked great if the guinea pigs didn't keep trying to burrow under the edges of the mat. We then added fabric to go up the sides of the cage to keep them from burrowing. And by we, of course, I mean me. To keep them from pulling down the sides we actually used binder clips. This worked really well. Nate thought it was great fun to take the binder clips off. Good thing we watched when he was around the guinea pigs.

Until Next Time.

Guinea Pigs

For a few months, we had guinea pigs. Our first one was a birthday present for me last September. We have since gotten two more and gotten rid of all three. We got rid of them because we could not get their smell under control. It really didn't help that we had to have two cages since two of the boys could not get along.

In the large open cage, we had Odin and Fritz. Odin was the white, black and brown one. His name came because he had the black spot over one eye, which made me think of Odin (also known as Wotan) from Norse mythology, who traded his eye for wisdom. Fritz was mostly black with a tuft of brown on his crown. Having already gotten Odin, I kept thinking of Frigg, his wife. However, I do believe in giving males, male names, so then I said that it looked like he had a spritz of brown on his head, which led to Fritz. Little did we know at the time, how jumpy he would be for the duration of his stay with him. By the end, we joked that Fritz was always on the fritz.

Our third boy was Jack. He was a really pretty dark brown and white, that had a satin sheen to his fur. He was definitely the most friendly of the bunch. He liked to come and see us whenever we walked in the room, while the others ran and hid.

Now that they are gone, I miss them. But I also have to admit I feel much better. Their fur got everywhere, which made my allergies act up. It was most definitely not fun. Having them also led to another project which I will blog about later.

Until Next Time.

Virtual Quilt Along

One of the projects that I have decided to do is the Virtual Quilting Bee that is being run by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter. This is a fabric bundle I found at the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati last year (2012).

So far I've only managed to designate my fabric. Thus far, three of the blocks have been posted on her website. Hopefully, soon I will be able to get to those.

Until later my friends.

My Apologies

Somehow time has gotten away from me again. It appears to have been a week since I last posted, saying that I was too tired to post.

The last 2 weeks have been a tad crazy here at my house. My mom, dad, and youngest brother all came to visit for one of my other brother's weddings. And while they were here, my dad and my youngest brother both decided to have birthdays. My mom and I managed to sandwich in a wedding shower for my new sister-in-law between the THOUSANDS of quilt shop visits. We had a sew day with some of my friends (to celebrate my dad's birthday). Unfortunately, I could not invite all my new quilting friends because of a lack of space. My best friend, whose baby girl we are expecting at the end of April, decided she needed to get herself put on bedrest. We had LDS general conference, and my parents and I worked in a temple trip.

I have a quilt friend who has been hosting sewing days every day this week, except for today. And now I'm up against a deadline for something else. Hopefully, things will settle down in the next little bit, so I can get some things done and posted. Though we will have to see because I already know that I have a baby shower to attend on Saturday.

Until next time.

Busy Day.

Sorry, folks. I have plenty I could write about tonight, but I'm just too tired.

See you on Saturday, hopefully.

Our Angel, Annie

Today marks the 4th anniversary of my late sister-in-law's diagnosis with Leukemia. We miss her dearly.

This picture of her and her oldest son is from my wedding in July of 2009, 3 months after her diagnosis. This is also the last time I got to see her, as she passed in Sept of 2009.

She was always happy and full of life. She was the first sister I had.

When the day of my wedding came around, we weren't sure if she would be able to attend, since she had an doctor's appointment that morning. But her health was still high enough that her appointment was short, and she was there in time for the wedding. It was one of the many precious memories I get to have of her, for which I will be grateful for the rest of my life.

We miss you, Annie.

Nate's Design Wall Pincushion

Welcome, Foolish Mortals.

Since my son loves my pins and watched me put pins into the foam boards that are currently being put up as my design wall, he thought he should be allowed to stick pins into my boards as well. I decided I needed a pincushion on my board that he can play with, and hopefully, preserve the integrity of the board longer.

Thus, we have Nate's Design Wall pincushion now in the works. I went to the internet to find what people recommend for pincushion fillings. Gravity, however, meant I had to be creative.

I decided I wanted it rectangular and that I would use crushed walnut shells. My husband had quite a bit still in the bag from the local pet shop that he'd bought for cleaning his reloading brass.

I utilized what I remembered from a tutorial on how to make a weighted blanket, to make my inner pouches. This created the columns to put the walnut shells into, which will be turned on their sides and actually be rows within the pincushion.

For the inner pouch, I used 3 layers of cheap fabric. I alternated which of the outer layers I sewed to the middle layer, so that I could stagger the columns for the shells, since I was hoping that would allow the shells to be added more evenly instead of having hills of shells with valleys where the stitched rows were. I think it worked out great. I did decide that I wanted it a little thicker (since the pins are longer than the pouch was thick), so I have made 2 inner pouches that will nestle together.

I have started on the outer casing for this pincushion, and plan on adding some fiberfill around to soften it in case my son falls into it. More pictures will follow when I finish it.

Happy Crafting.