Sister's Choice Quilts

Just Puttering

I don't have anything particularly interesting to share with you all today.  I had the afternoon off, but instead of using it productively, I shopped for the ingredients to make an Indian Chicken Curry, and puttered about in my sewing room.

The mess you see in the picture above is the now borderless red and white quilt that had the rumply borders of shame.  I took the darn things off, and now I am just so not interested in this project.  But, I must fix the problem and get the quilt done.  Someone wants it.  Maybe I will focus on it this Friday when I have the day off.

But I want to start cutting out my red and white fabric for the Red and White Snowball challenge.  The swap fabric is beginning to come in!  I got my first package from Melissa today, and did she ever pick cool fabrics.  Totally what we need.  However, when I got her package, I realized that when I mailed mine out, I neglected to do what Allyson had instructed.  I did not put my strips in a zip lock bag to protect them!  I am so sorry Swap Mates!  If my fabric arrived soggy or otherwise damaged, let me know and I will send more!

 

I spent a lot of time auditioning light fabrics for my Raise the Roof project.  I am using a fat quarter pack of Vicksburg for the darks, but wanted some golden tans for the lights.

 

Seeing the fabrics in the photo, I think I am not done auditioning fabrics.  Those lighter ones really don't work for me.  I need more fabrics in that mid range golden tan.

So, it's just Sophers and me, hanging around the house.  I am kinda lonely for my husband, but we just had a nice chat on the phone.  It is his dad's birthday tonight and he and Sara are going to their house with Chinese take out for a nice dinner.  The problem is, the grandparents are going on 90 and eat their dinner at 4:30 in the afternoon, and by the time my husband and daughter get off work, commute home, and pick up the Chinese, it will be going on 7:30.  Hope the old folks can stay up and eat that late!

Sophie and I are getting along all right.  We have a lovely routine, where she gets me up at 6:00 every morning by giving me gentle kisses.  I swear that dog can read a clock.  The switch out of Daylight Savings Time didn't phase her one bit.  We used to get up at 6:00, we still get up at 6:00.  I have one of those digital clocks by the bed and I just know she knows when it is time to rise and shine.

 

She is such a tease.  Hey!  That is my new knee sock from Talbots!  Let go, you bad dog!

Flowers for Clara

Now, these blocks are not sewn together, just laid out on the design bed, but you can see how this top is coming together!  Don't the blocks make a cool design when rotated the way they are?  The pattern and fabric was a kit I bought from Bonnie Blue Quilts, a shop specializing in reproduction fabrics.  The pattern is called Flowers for Clara.

I am so relieved to have these blocks finished.  Would you believe I have been working on them for over a year?  I was using some special triangle papers that Bonnie Blue sells, and all in all this is my review of them:  The half square triangles were super duper accurate, but tearing off that darn paper was a pain in the you know what.  It was a mixed bag for sure.  You have to lay the fabric and the triangles papers together just so, pin the paper to the two layers of fabric, sew on the dotted lines, then cut on the solid lines, then press, then trim, then make the blocks.  I would make three or four blocks and just get weary of the entire process and its many steps.  It took me forever.  And I had 64 blocks to make, each one with 12 half square triangles.  You do the math. 

 

The plus side is, you get dead on accurate half square triangles.  And you get eight of them per triangle paper.

I love the blocks, I know I am going to adore the quilt, so I guess it was worth it.  Now that I am done with the darn triangle papers!

Watch for more progress on this quilt, as I get the rows sewn together.  Once that is done, I will be making my second appliqued border in my life.  Woo hoo!  And it will be an accurately measured, flat, non-rumply border.  Yes it will.

Hanging Head in Shame

My son discovered this quilt top in my sewing room and asked me why I hadn't had it quilted.  "Too many quilt tops, too little money" was my answer.  He said he would pay to have it quilted if he could give it to someone special in his life.  How could I say no to that?  I had made the quilt top about a year and a half ago, the summer I was unemployed and finishing up a quilt every Friday.  Check out my album of Friday Finishes on the right side bar.  That was a productive summer!  However, haste makes waste, as you will see.

I have been going to a certain quilt shop for my quilting for several years now.  They do a great job and I love getting in there to talk to the gals and do a bit of shopping.  However, due to my current work schedule, I have a hard time getting to my favorite quilt shop, which is closed on Sundays, my only free day to get up there to it.  It is also a long way from where I live.  So, this quilt has been sitting around for weeks waiting for me to buy backing and take it in for quilting.  Today was the day.  I took a half day off work and drove the 70 miles to the shop.  We laid the quilt out on the cutting table to measure it, and the lady who was helping me said, "Uh oh".  What?  What?  What's wrong?  Did my darn dogs chew a hole in it?

She then pointed out how my border was totally ripply.  Much too much fabric for the length of the sides and top/bottom of the quilt.  When quilted, it would be a rumpled mess of folded fabric and uneven stitching.   How did I do that?  What a bonehead, novice sort of thing to do.  And I was so embarrassed.  Here I am, supposedly an experienced quilter, and how in the heck did I manage to mess up such an elemental thing?  I have a reputation to uphold for goodness' sake. 

I was so humiliated I just folded up the quilt and said I would take it back home with me and remove the borders and sew them back on so they were flat and even.  My face was as red as this quilt as I drove home with the faulty quilt top.  I just cringe when I think about it.  Why hadn't I checked it first?  How did I miss that?

Well, I can fix it.  This has moved up to the top of my priority list.  And I will be darned if I made that mistake again. 

Look at the cute backing fabric I found--at least the 140 mile round trip wasn't a complete waste.

Missed the Deadline

This is a good example of why it isn't a good idea to leave things until the last minute.  My plan was to whip Cindy Lou Who together on Saturday when I had the whole day off.  My nine patches were done, all I had to do was make the snowball stars.  I laid the blocks out to figure out the placement of the star points, and what do you know?  Instead of cutting 8 squares of each fabric for the star points, I had only cut 5.  And I was out of fabric.  I will have to pick up a charm pack of my fabric, Blessings, and finish the project at a later date.  So I have no Schnibbles reveal for October. 

I did make use of my free day however.  I pre-washed all my red fabrics for the Red and White Snowball challenge.  Were you thinking that you don't need to pre-wash your reds?  Oh dear, you might want to re-think that.  Imagine if you got your beautiful quilt all together and when you washed it, some of those reds bled onto the lights.  Disaster.  I hate pre-washing, and skip it under most circumstances, but with reds.....You just have to do it. 

Get yourself a box of Color Catchers in the laundry aisle of your grocery store.  Toss one or two in the wash with your reds and you will see how much color bleeds out.  You would not want this to happen to the light fabric in your quilt.

 

There are a couple of other tricks I have learned when it comes to pre-washing.  I do put most of the fabrics in the dryer, but take them out after about 10 minutes when they are nearly dry.  Do not let them dry completely or you will have a big mess of perma wrinkles in your fabric.  Then I iron the pieces with a hot iron and they are just as beautiful as when they were new and full of sizing.  Anything smaller than a fat quarter I put in a lingerie bag and toss that in both the washer and dryer with the larger pieces.  Allyson told me that with her smaller scraps she just soaks them in a basin of warm sudsy water for an hour, then rinses them in a collander and blots the excess moisture out with towels.  The lingerie bag route is probably the easier path if you have one.

See, don't those fabrics look as good as new?  Hmmm?  Pre-washing isn't so bad.

What's Going On?

I finished my Birdseye quilt top, that's what's going on!  I haven't trimmed it yet, and I want to examine all the little block intersections to make sure they line up right, but all in all, FINI!

This quilt is way big.  I was going to add the perfect border fabric from the Sturbridge Harvest collection, and I still might, but this quilt is big enough as it stands.  I really like the way the pieced setting triangles make it impossible to see right off the bat just how this quilt is put together.  There is a star block, and there is a double nine patch block, and then there are 16 pieced setting triangles.  The quilt is set on the diagonal.  It looks so complex to me, and I just love it. To give credit where credit is due, the pattern was designed by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.  She calls it Birdseye, and that's what I am calling it too.  It was a very fun quilt to make, due to the scrappy fabric combinations.

Not once, but twice, did I manage to put two identical nine patch blocks right next to each other.  I am trying not to let it bother me.  I am DONE with this quilt and am not fussing about rotating blocks at this juncture.  It is what it is.

I am way behind on Cindy Lou Who, the Schnibbles project for October.  I pieced the nine patch blocks, and now need to lay out the blocks and piece the snowball blocks appropriately.  My border fabric has not come, and I do not know when it will turn up, so even if I do get the top together by Saturday night, it won't have its borders.  Sad face here.  Can't wait for the show and tell on this one!  You all are so imaginative and creative it blows my mind.

 

I am very ready to move on to the Red and White Snowball challenge!  I have my three different lights all cut and set to send out to my seven swap partners.  I can't wait to see what I get from my swap mates!  On my side bar, I have listed all the participants who have blog sites, where we can link to see pictures of their progress.  There are a number of folks who are playing along who don't have blogs.  If any of you non-bloggers want to send me pictures of your progress, I will be happy to post them on my blog.  If I have left anyone out, let me know and I will add you in.

Thanks to all of you who gave such great suggestions yesterday to my question of what Andrea should do with the old quilt top she was given.  You all are super, and I know she really appreciated all your comments and advice.

Have a marvelous weekend everyone!

Old Quilts

My sister Andrea was given the old quilt pictured above.  She has been blogging about her dilemma concerning this quilt on her blog Under A Blue Moon, and has asked me to post a picture of it and raise the questions that have been on her mind.

You see, this quilt is in not such great shape.  It has a large tear about six inches long, which goes right through to the back of the quilt; the fabric seems to be fraying on the seam lines; and the backing was in such bad shape that it is splitting in several places.  Also, this quilt was a tied quilt, not a quilted one.

Her dilemma was should she try to salvage and repair this old quilt?  Or should she cut up the good bits and use them for some other purpose, such as making pillows or bags etc?  She has made the decision to try to salvage the quilt top, and repair the tears.  She snipped away all the yarn ties, separated the quilt top from the batting (which she said was disgusting), and has been gently soaking the quilt top for a couple of days in her bathtub to get rid of the filth.

My question to you more experienced quilt historians out there is ----Is her effort to restore this quilt worth the bother?  I  mean, if the fabric is so delicate that it is tearing along the seam lines, will she be left with anything usable if she does the repairs, puts on a new backing and has the quilt quilted properly?  Does all this tearing indicate that the fabric is too fragile (or rotten) to be used?

And most important question--would it be worth the time and expense to have it quilted once the repairs are made, and a new batting and backing found?  Or should it be re-tied to fit in with the quilter's original intent?

Then we get back to the central question--does she try to rescue the entire quilt or just use some of the better sections in other projects?

If any of you have any thoughts or experience along these lines, your input would be most appreciated!

Runners Up

Now, in an ideal world, all the costumes pictured below should have won prizes.  Life is a hard thing though, and is paved with disappointments.  We can't all be Homecoming Queen.  Sigh.  At any rate, here are some of the costumes worn by other attendees at my family's annual Halloween Party.

 

That would be my husband and I, as Greasers.  Nobody seemed to take us seriously, and many thought I was trying to be Michael Jackson and that my husband was Keith Richards.  No. 

 

That is Sara and Remy pictured above.  Sara is a kind of Japanese Anime character and Remy is a pumpkin.  He spent a good deal of the evening rolling around on the ground trying to get the costume off.  Sara isn't always so sad looking--there, isn't she pretty?  She got much happier when her husband turned up unexpectedly!

 

Whoa.  This is Andrea, who I think should have won for the Scariest category.  Don't you agree?  She is sort of an Interview With the Vampire meets Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

This little cutie should have won for Most Adorable, which wasn't a category, but should be next year.  Remy kept trying to bite her tail all evening.  He is moving in for the kill.  That is her mom behind her in the aerobics outfit (and figure to die for). 

Here is my little friend again before makeup and costume.  Her name is Aaliyah and she has more personality in her little dimples than the rest of us combined.

 

 

This scarry Hippy/Disco chick is Aaliyah's grandmother.  The teeth are not real.  Seriously.  I have to show you the shoes she was wearing with her costume.  She found them in a real shoe store.  Fashion Bug, I think she said.  Fortunately they were on sale.  Imagine the luck.

 

 

Dad is always such a great sport about this party.  He lets us take over his entire house, and allows us to dress him up each year.  He gets to choose his costume and Andrea typically makes it happen.  The requirements are that it has to be comfy.  He just pulled it on over his regular clothes.  Just because you are 84 years old doesn't mean you can't get into the spirit of the thing.

 

Here's Cousin Joe as Where's Waldo,  with his lovely Sarah, the pussy cat.  She is adorable.  I remember the first time we met her was at the Halloween party a few years ago.  She was Pocahantas and just about froze to death in her skimpy Indian maiden dress.  She has dressed more warmly ever since.  Shoot, we are so glad she came back!  Especially since for the past three years I have been thinking she was wearing a Flapper costume when I met her.  Meeting the family at the Halloween Party isn't the optimal situation.  Interesting though.

 

I think she said her name was Malificent.  She looks pretty nice to me.  Great hat.

 

John Smith and Pocahontas.  I am sure she is Pocahantas.

 

Gilligan, Pocahontas again, a hippie, and a fairy--or is she a butterfly?.

 

A couple of farmers.  Or are they cowboys?  No,they must be farmers.

 

A Super Model.

The Green Man.  You would have had to see this to believe it.

 

A table full of young people having a laugh.  It ain't easy keeping a straight face when you have a green man sitting at your table.

 

A tribute to Halloween parties over the years.

Gosh it was fun.  Come back and join us next year!

Costume Parade

The costumes at this year's Halloween Party were off the chart in terms of effort and creativity.  A couple of people even had two costumes which they alternated between during the course of the evening.  (See yesterday's post featuring my clever brother in law Rick).

We give prizes for the best costumes, so I will start with those which were considered Prize Worthy.

In the category of Best Couple, we have my sister Kate and her husband Robert.  She was Queen Bee and he was the Bee Keeper.  Look out, that stinger really works.

That's the Bee Keeper lighting some candles while the Queen Bee holds his smoker.  Now that is cooperation.

 

Then, for Best Effort, we have Andrea's husband Rick, who I featured in yesterday's post.  He was The Refreshment Table from Hell as well as a Job Seeker on a Milk Carton.

Next category, Funniest.  My sister Trish took that one with her Taco costume.  Can you even imagine coming to a party as a Taco?  Well, folks thought it was pretty funny.  Quite different from her costume from last year, when she was Sarah Palin.  I will post that picture too just so you can see the contrast.

 

Seriously, she wins every year.  What versatility.

 

Next winning category was Scariest.  No, not Rick again.  The Grim Reaper on the right.

 

We had no idea who this character was for about an hour into the party.  Sometimes when I hug people I can tell who they are, but when I asked if I could hug him, he declined.  Who was it?  Some random gate crasher?  Nope.  It turned out it was the Winemaker!!!  He said he had to work up at the winery due to harvest, but he ended up getting the day off and drove down for the shindig.  Sara was so happy to see her husband, especially once he took that head off.

Finally, we have the prize for Best of Show.  The guy who won it is named John and he is a colleague of my sister Kate.  None of us had ever met him before the party, but we are definitely hoping he will come back.  We are very nepotistic when it comes to giving prizes at our party, and someone who isn't related to us hardly ever wins.  But John was fabulous on so many levels he just had to be recognized.  That would be him in the Bathing Beauty outfit.  I tell you, this guy has no inhibitions.  There he is trying to act normal while he talks to my Greaser husband.  "Yes.  It is very nice to meet you too.  No, really, I don't think I need a sweatshirt.  Thanks for asking".

There were a number of other fabulous costumes which didn't win prizes, and I will show you those folks tomorrow.

 

Halloween 2009

Our family Halloween party was this past Saturday.  It may have been one of the best ever.  We had a ton of new people that my sister Kate invited, and did they ever add a fun element...Wait til you see their costumes.

The dismembered digits, I mean cookies, in the picture above were suggested to me by Nancy in WI.  She saw the recipe on a blog called Poppy Print.  Once I saw them, of course I had to make them.  They were a huge hit at the party.  If I do them again though, I will cut the salt way down.  Otherwise, satisfyingly disgusting looking and rather tasty.

Andrea, Sara, and Kate had decorated my dad's house better than ever.  Everywhere you looked there were amazing little details.

This is the bar pictured above.  And the drinks cooler is below.  Andrea's husband Rick constructed this.  Yum.  Refreshing.  Oooohh, does that look chilly.

 

Then there was this adorable little table full of refreshments.  Just a warning:  appearances can be deceiving.

 

Would you like a piece of candy?   Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My brother in law Rick is under that table sitting on a little stool terrorizing anyone who comes along thinking they might like a Reese's or a beer.  He literally scared the you know what out of a few people when he grabbed their hand as they reached into pumpkin for a piece of candy.  He said it got kinda hot under there.   He got tired of spending the party in the dark and eventually came out wearing another back up costume he had made.

 

The man obviously has too much time on his hands.  Anyone want to give him a job?  He is extremely creative.

 

More costumes tomorrow!

Got Reds?

Have you heard about the Red and White Snowball Challenge?  Some of us are going to make a quilt from the Evelyn Sloppy book 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts, called "Leftovers Again?".  It is the most perfect stash reduction quilt you ever saw.  You can make it in one color (plus lights) or go wild and make it completely scrappy as Evelyn did in her version in the book.  Amazon only has four copies of this book left, so if you don't have it, get it quick!  Out of the 40 patterns in this book, I guarantee you will want to make more than 10 of them.  Great book.

Well, I have to do reds.  I love a red quilt more than just about anything, and have quite a stash of leftovers from previous projects.  So, out to the garage I went, in search of my Red Tub.  Once located, I opened it to view the treasure trove pictured above.  Ah ha, now I am cooking.

I dragged the tub into my sewing room, and opened up my Primo Stash Closet and dragged out some stacks of red fabric that hadn't made it into the tub.  Oh my.  Well, I guess I could make several red and white snowball quilts with all this fabric, couldn't I?  I sure do have the red part of this quilt covered.  The lights are another story!  Allyson at Fat Cat Quilts is organizing a swap of light fabric strips, so if you want to join in the fun, better contact her PDQ.

A sweet lady named Jan commented on my post from yesterday, saying that she doesn't have a stash!  She just buys what she needs for the project she is currently working on.  Wouldn't it be great if we all had one drop of her restraint and self-control?  I might even have some money in my savings account.  Anyway, after I wiped away my tears, I emailed her back to say that it takes some time to build up a stash.  I started mine by saving leftover bits from projects and before you knew it, I had a tub of fabric scraps.  Of course, then I started buying fabric for which I had no designated purpose, and the rest is history.  Pretty soon I had to buy a dozen tubs and organize the stash/scraps by color.  And you know something?  I view my stash as a standby palette of every color in the rainbow, at the ready for any project I have going on.  It is such a thrill for me to think, "Now if I just had a few more greens in that sagey color...." and go out to the stash tubs and actually find what I need, right there in my own house!  A stash is a fine thing to have.  So go rummage in your stash and see what you have on hand for the Leftovers Again? challenge!

Leftovers Again? Challenge

What do you think?  Like the looks of this quilt?  Me too.  Would you like one of your own?  Yup, me too.  Allyson of Fat Cat Quilts took this picture while she was on a recent road trip through Utah.  Of course she stopped at all the quilt shops, and this was one of many amazing quilts that she saw.

Want one of your own?  So, here's how you get one.  Join Allyson (Fat Cat Quilts) and me for a challenge to make this scrumptious quilt, called Leftovers Again?  from the 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts book by Evelyn Sloppy.  Very simple piecing.  Strip piecing and half square triangles to make easy peasy snow ball blocks.

You can do it in any color scheme you like, it doesn't have to be red.  But mine is going to be red.  And Allyson's is going to be red.  lol  Just kidding, no pressure.  This quilt would be amazing in any color scheme, including all scrappy, every color in the rainbow.  But mine is going to be red.  And so is Allyson's.

We are still working out the details, such as the finish date etc.  But what Allyson is coordinating is a strip swap for the lights.   How fun is that??   We will send a 4 x 42" strip of a light fabric to five or six other participants and end up with six different strips for every one of our own.  Variety is the spice of life for sure.  No one ever can have enough lights for a scrappy quilt!

More details to follow, both here and on Allyson's blog.  If you are interesting in joining in, let me or Allyson know and we will post a link to your blog on our sidebar so folks can check on you and see how you are progressing.

Patchwork

getty images

Hey, Quilters!  Isn't this a fun image for fall?  Does the season influence the fabrics you choose to work with?  Have you ever made a fall leaf quilt? 

I have made a couple of them.  My first effort was quite exciting for me.  I made it 15 years ago or so, after a hiatus I had taken from quilting.  The blocks were in the design of maple leafs, all pieced, including a tiny stem.  I quilted it by hand, believe it or not, in a gold metallic thread.  I gave it to my daughter, and wonder if she still has it.  Sara?  It went really well with a dark green couch she had at the time.  It was kind of a pitiful effort, compared to where I am now with my quilting, but I do remember the joy I experienced in making it.  I loved working with the dark greens, golds, russets, burgundies and browns.  I have seen some stunning leaf block quilts in recent years, and have vowed to do another one someday.

The quilt I am working on currently, Birdseye, is very much a fall themed quilt as far as the color scheme is concerned, and that is part of the fun I am having while working on it.  The colors of my fabrics are very much the colors of the season.  See yesterday's post for a photo of the blocks to see what I mean.

 

This is a quilt top I finished about seven or eight years ago.  Believe it or not, I have never had it quilted.  I think it deserves quilting, don't you?  I made it one fall and had the same feeling of rightness & satisfaction while I was working on it, that I have now while working on Birdseye.  The colors seem right with the time of year.  But here's the thing.  I let myself be influenced by a comment someone I really respected made about the quilt.  She said, "Oh.  The colors are so dark.  You must have been really depressed when you made it.  The colors quilters choose always reflect their state of mind.  I'm sorry you were going though a troublesome period".

I thought to myself, "I didn't think I was depressed when I made this quilt.  But maybe it IS dark and somber and depressing. Maybe things weren't so great with me when I made it."  The quilt now felt tainted with a cloud of despair.  Was it indeed a testament to a bleak period in my life?  Did I want to be forever reminded of that?  A lot of the love I felt for this quilt was diminished by my friend's thoughtless, but possibly well meaning comment.  Now that I take the unquilted top out of the closet and spread it out, it doesn't seem dark to me in the slightest.  Do you agree?  This is not a dark quilt!  But it does have a feeling of the changing seasons, which is exactly what I had in mind while I made it.  Why did I let myself be so negatively influenced by someone's comment?  This is a great quilt!  And it has been hanging in a dark closet for years with no one loving it or using it.

Has something like this ever happened to you?  Tell us about it.

Happy Monday

Lots of sewing this weekend on my Birdseye project.  I finished all 25 star blocks and six of the double nine patch blocks.  I spread things out on my design bed, and really like the effect.  The blocks are set on the diagonal.  It is one of those settings that you just stare at and stare at thinking, "How the heck was that put together?!?"   I was worried that the total effect might be too dark, but I needn't have worried.  The look pleases me!  I should get the double nine patches finished this week, and then I have 16 pieced setting triangles to make.  This quilt top sure has called for a lot of sewing! I think it will be fabulous when it is quilted.

I'll keep plugging away at it this week.

Well, I went up to Palo Alto to have Sunday dinner with my family, and someone unexpected had come to dinner.  Remy didn't care for him/her at all and was raising quite a ruckus.  Good thing Ozzie wasn't there yet, or he/she would have been torn to shreds.

 

Andrea is very pleased with herself, as she was the responsible party for bringing this alarming guest into our midst.  Sara thought it was extremely creepy, and is on the phone there trying to explain to her husband what on earth is going on that is making their dog bark hysterically.

Why, you ask, do we have this strange decoration?  Well, because our family's annual Halloween party is next Saturday, silly.  We needed a few new characters to spook up the place.  This party is a huge big deal to my family.  We made a tradition of this gala event decades ago and it just keeps getting bigger.  The rules are simple--you must wear a costume and you must  not repeat the costume until at least five years have passed.  I am happy to say that I have never repeated my costume.  I started out as a Conehead back in the 80's and have been a garage mechanic, a ghoulish chef, Little Lord Flauntleroy, Raggedy Ann, a devil, a prisoner, a cave man, a very wicked queen, a good queen, a motorcycle thug, a gypsy, Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, Little Red Riding Hood, a rainbow clown, Mary Poppins, and a whole bunch of other characters that I cannot remember.  Last year I was Lady Luck.  This year.....You will just have to wait and see!

 

My Room Mate is a Big Pest

I am trying to get some sewing done here.  I have my little Birdseye Star Block units all cut out and ready to sew together.  I have time, I am organized and prepared, and there is nothing stopping me.

Except for this little devil, who is bored and wants my attention.  Who is going through every little trick in her book to get my goat.

 

I wear these Uggs when I walk her in the morning, and had left them in the coat closet by the front  door.  She dragged one out, ragged it around for awhile, then came into the sewing room to be sure I saw that she was up to no good.  Of course I gave chase and wrestled the boot away from her.  "Sophie!  Be good!  Leave me alone!"

 

No, Eleanor Burns was not at my house, pitching scraps over her shoulder willy nilly.  I put my scraps in the waste basket properly, which is positioned right underneath my cutting table.  Everytime I tossed something into the wastebasket, Sophie got up from whatever she was doing and took it out.  In 20 minutes the floor was covered in thread and trimmings and scraps.  I should have just tossed things on the floor in the first place.

Then, she got into this, which was entirely too much for me.

 

"Sophie!  NO!  Drop it!"  Or do I say "leave it"?  Who knows.  She didn't mind me when I said either command.

 

She was so going to run off with that entire bundle of fabric.  And you know what it is don't you?

I ordered an entire bundle of Vicksburg, which arrived yesterday in the mail!  Is that not the most wonderful fabric group???  It is going to be cut up into log cabin strips and star blocks for my Raise the Roof quilt, which *I am not starting until I finish Flowers for Clara AND Birdseye*.

I finally gave up.  My pesky room mate won this round.  I had to stop sewing and go play with her.  Does she remind you of anyone?  Someone who looks a lot like her who is staying in Palo Alto during the week?

I Love These Blocks

You would laugh if you could see me doing my little happy dance.  I love these blocks.  Each one is unique and so much fun to put together.  I have seven done, out of 24 (or is it 25?).  If I make six a day, this Birdseye quilt will be a reality in no time.  These star blocks will be combined with double nine patch blocks (hence the reason for making 121 nine patch units!).  The setting for this quilt is simple, but due to the piecing of the two different blocks in the top, and a diagonal set, it looks so much more complicated than it is.

In spite of my big boo boo of sewing the brown and white half square triangles all wrong (instead of brown I used the prints), I am making good progress.  I did have to rip out 24 half square triangles, but the bias edges didn't stretch and no fabric was wasted.  No harm done to fabric in the making of this quilt. 

 

This is the sort of day it has been.  It has been pouring rain for over 12 hours here, with no let up at all.  Well, I guess I won't have to water the roses will I?  I didn't want to leave Sophie in the house while I went to work, so I left her in the garage with the door open.  When I got home, she was soaking wet from frolicking out in the rain, but at least had the option of coming into the warmer, dry garage.  Aren't you glad you aren't a dog?  It would be so boring to get left home all day.  Or worse, left out in the rain!

This is the sort of day that makes me crave

or

I am on the Gain One Pound A Week Diet.  My husband goes out of town for the week and all I can think about is eating pasta.

Dog's At Play

Now that my husband is working in the Big City, he takes Ozzie with him and stays all week at my father's house in Palo Alto.  It is a complicated arrangement, but both my daughter Sara and her little dog Remy stay at my dad's during the week as well.  Luckily Ozzie and Remy are terrific friends.  They have been since Sara brought Puppy Remy over to meet Ozzie for the first time.

Look at that picture of Ozzie inspecting Tiny Rem.  Tiny Rem has a worried look on his little face, but it will be ok.  Ozzie is smiling with glee, because he can tell that little ball of fluff is going to grow up to be a Playmate and Friend.  And he did.  Ozzie and Remy play all week long, and when they aren't playing, they are napping together.  Oh now and then they get into mischief too, like a couple weeks ago when Dad opened the door for the Clark Pest Control guy, and both dogs scooted past him and out into the cul de sac where they raced around like maniacs for a half hour before coming back home.  These dogs have a real relationship with each other that is lovely to observe.  They LIKE each other.  They are buddies. 

Back at the homestead in Salinas, Sophie and I are on our own.  Now, this may actually be an arrangement that Sophie prefers, since she had shown time and again that she thinks Ozzie is a big dumb goofball and should be put in his place.  But still.

 

I think she might miss the old fuzz ball.  She just sits and stares out the window in my sewing room.  I know I am anthropomorphizing here, but do you think she is wishing she had Ozzie home to play with her?  Or maybe she is just bored, not having anyone to torment and boss around?  Besides me, that is?

But, no.  I think she really does miss him.  She tried to play her favorite game where she hides under the dust ruffle of the sewing room bed.  When Ozzie is home, his role is to bark and try to get her to come out from under the bed.  They play this game for hours until Ozzie gets too excited and Sophie has to come out and smack him.

 

I tried to play with her, but it just wasn't the same.

Birdseye Smirdseye

I woke up this morning with the beginnings of a little cold or virus or something.  Achey, snozzley, big cold sore on the lip.  A perfect day to make a pot of tea and call in sick.  Sick, but not too sick to work on a certain sewing project.  Heh heh heh.  I emailed the office to say that I was taking sick day.  Then the phone started to ring.  "Who will change the tape on the back up server?"  "Who will talk to the Canon copier repair guy?"  "Who will ______________? (fill in the blank)".  Ok ok, so I am indispensable.  I put on my warm up suit, stuffed my pockets with Kleenex and went into the office.  Those big babies.  Can't I even stay home ONE day?  Grumble grumble.  Good thing I wasn't REALLY that sick, but just a little bit sick.  Still, with the HINI (pronounced Hiney don't you know?) flu warnings, we need to be careful about spreading germs around.  But that is a topic for another day.

But before I went into work, take a look at my first Birdseye star block!  I made it in about a half hour before the phone started ringing with calls from my concerned colleagues.  I love this block!  It was so fun to make, and the combinations of fabrics will be different in each and every block.  So unique, so not boring.  However, this is a quilt block that you need to be conscious to make.  No dozing off or mind wandering.  A block like this one calls for concentration.  It was really hard to leave this block and go to work.

But, I put in my four and half hours at work, put out all the fires no one else could deal with, and hurried home to get back to my Birdseye star blocks.  Woo hoo!  I am having fun now.  But my mind kept going back to those annoying phone calls from people who seemed more concerned about how my responsibilities would be taken care of rather than how I was feeling.  I swear those people can't change a roll of paper towels without direction.  Harumph.  Poor Nicole.  And guess what friends?

My Mind Wandered.  I lost concentration on my wonderful Birdseye Star blocks.  My mind focused on Bourgeois Pettiness instead of my Art.

I made 24 half square triangles using the wrong fabric combinations.  No.  I did not.  Yes.  I did.

So now instead of sitting back enjoying my beautiful star blocks I get to spend the evening ripping along bias edges.  I can salvage all the pieces, but it will mean sewing bias edge triangles together.

I really need to be more Zen.

Nine Patch Weekend

Yes, it was a nine patch weekend.

I am working on Miss Rosie's pattern "Birdseye", and needed to make 121 nine patch blocks.  Since you need the nine patch units for the two other main blocks featured in the quilt, as Carrie says "You just might as well get it over with".  It wasn't so bad, really.  And the pattern called for strip piecing, which always makes me a happy girl.  Each little strip piece unit yields two nine patch blocks.

This is a very scrappy quilt, which also makes me very happy.  The fabrics are all reproductions, most from Sturbridge Village Harvest by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Bros.  Of course I had to add more fabrics in from my stash as well!  Even though you might think that making nine patch blocks for an entire weekend could get boring, it really wasn't.  I would pick up each fabric and think "this is my favorite", "no, this is my favorite". And it was quite rewarding to see those blocks stack up.

It was positively, absolutely the best weekend!  My son and husband were home, and when I wasn't following them around chattering and hearing about their week at work and grad school, I was sitting in my sewing room stitching nine patch blocks.  I had the window open wide, and it was a crisp fall day.  Everything certainly felt right in my world.

 

And now I can get going with the other blocks in the quilt!

Sticks and Stones

Have you ever asked yourself why some people can be so hateful?  It isn't a question that I have given a lot of thought to.  Oh sure, when I read about some act of vandalism or some other vicious act I wonder about how some folks can be so twisted, but I quickly turn my thoughts to some other more pleasant topic.

This week, I was the victim of some hateful comments on my blog.  Pppppffffffttttt.  I deleted the comments, and emailed the sender (who was dumb enough to leave her email address) that if she didn't like my blog or me, maybe it would be better if she not subject herself to it/me.  In passing, I mentioned the incident to a couple of friends, and discovered that hateful comments to blog posts are not uncommon.

Why do you suppose someone would bother to leave hurtful or cruel comments?  Is it the anonymity aspect?   Like some pilots who found dropping bombs on villages not so difficult, since they couldn't see who they were hurting?  Or are these people like sociopaths before they become serial killers, who enjoy pulling the legs off bugs?  It makes them feel powerful, and they inflict pain because they can.  And because they enjoy it.  Extreme examples, maybe, but I see some parallels.

Honestly, you would think these people could find something more useful to do with their time.  If you don't like someone's blog then don't read it for goodness sake.  I thought the person who left the obnoxious comments on my blog was an idiot and didn't take it too much to heart, but some of the stories I have heard from other people were pretty shocking.  Like the 53 year old airline attendant who gives online beauty tips for middle aged women--someone told her she looked every bit of her 53 years, had a double chin, and couldn't believe her husband actually loved her.  Or my friend who got a comment that no wonder Americans are so fat, since all we do is sit around quilting and eating sweets. 

Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.  Oh really?

Weekly Progress Report

Thank you all so much for your suggestions on whether or not I should go for both the blues and browns in my next Raise the Roof quilt project, or just stick with one color or the other.  Overwhelmingly, you said use both.  So I will!  I haven't started cutting it out yet--figured I needed to finish something first!  I did vow to do that.  Didn't I?

I have been following the Hour A Day Rule this week,  but have managed to fit in more like two or three hours of sewing a day.  At least one hour has to be spent on my Celebrity Stunt Sewing Project, and whatever time is left is all mine!

I have been making two Flowers For Clara blocks every day.  Gosh, it is so satisfying to see them start to stack up.  Those guys are going to be done before I know it.

The October Schnibbles project is just so darn cute I had to jump right into it.  My choice of fabric is Blessings by Brannock and Patk.  Someone very cool gave me a layer cake of this fabric group, so I just pulled the lights, reds, greens and blacks out of it for my Cindy Lou Who Schnibble.  I omitted the blues and the browns.  (Maybe I should see if they go with my Raise the Roof fabrics?  lol)  Wherever you see gold in the quilt pictured on the pattern, I will be using black.  I should get a nice strong design that way.  The fabric yardage is now available for sale, so I will be ordering some of the large black floral for my border.

Did any of you go to A Quilting Life or Pink Pincushion to look at the September Schnibbles that people made using the pattern Winter White?  Could you believe how creative folks are?  I was blown away.  I just loved how a couple of  people divided the four large solid blocks and made hour glass blocks instead of leaving them large.  If you haven't had a look at what everyone did for September, please go check it out!  And, go to Thelma's blog to see what she did with Gobble Gobble (the collection I ruined in my first attempt).  For those of you who enjoy using panels, you will flip over what she did.  Thelma is new to blogging, and I highly recommend that you go visit her.  Please wish her well, she is the nicest person.  Her projects are beautiful and her talent considerable.  And if nothing else, you must see her Halloween socks.