Sister's Choice Quilts

Sunrise

Here is a picture of a sunrise.  Which is something I haven't seen in quite some time.  You see, since I haven't been working for over a year, I have learned to appreciate the joy of Sleeping In.  But I better start practicing getting up early because I GOT A JOB!!!!

It finally worked out and the company I had interviewed with four times hired me.  As you can tell, I am very excited.  I start in two weeks, so I started getting up early today to see how it goes for me.  6:00 AM and here I am, coffee in hand, and not too much worse for the wear.  However will I get used to working Monday through Friday, 8-5?  And what about Ozzie?  We are considering getting a companion for him, but more on that later.

The first couple of days of this week have been a bit of a loss because I have been scurrying around between Palo Alto and my house, doing things like getting my hair colored and cut and making sure my wardrobe is career worthy (I've got it covered).  Plus tomorrow, I am leaving for Orlando, Florida to see Mickey, so I have to be sure my suitcase is packed.  Busy busy busy.

I do have a Friday Finish for you, which I will set to post while I am away.  Lucky me, I got to attend a UFO with my quilting friends on Sunday and got a bit accomplished on a new project I have started.  I am using the Allspice Tapestry (Fig Tree for Moda) fabric line and am using a pattern I found in a recent issue of Quilt Sampler Magazine.  If you go to to the website of Homestead Hearth, you can get a kit for the pattern made up of fabrics of their choice.

 

The pattern calls for 44 small stars and 24 large stars that surround the center medallion.  After constructing that, I decided to start with the small ones and get them out of the way.  44 stars is a lot, that is what I have to say about that.

 

 

Such a beautiful collection of fabrics.  I left out the pinks in the collection, but otherwise, used all the blues, tans, browns, and reds. 

Our Two Color Challenge deadline is coming up on August 1 (a week from this Friday).  So, how is that going for you girls?  Over the weekend, I put my blocks together and started the half square triangle border.  Don't you all just think that a pieced border adds so much pizazz to a quilt?  Me too.  It sure was lucky for me that I found that box with hundreds of already pieced half square triangles!  What a piece of luck that was.

 

So, I am off to Orlando, but will be back on Monday!  Have a great weekend everyone!

PS:  I lost four pounds on the no carb diet, which I am totally happy with.  I am so tired of turkey, cottage cheese and lamb chops.  However, the clothes fit better, tummy seems flatter---so I am a happy girl.  I am starving for fruit though, so I plan to eat lots of strawberries and melon today!

 

 

Back to Normal, Whatever That Is

 

Ozzie is much much better.  Thanks to all of you for your good wishes. 

He looks serious in the picture above, because I took the photo while he was in his spot watching me cook dinner.  He waits stoically for me to clumsily drop a bit of food out of the sky.  This is what they call "intermittent conditioning".  A few times in the past, I dropped something tasty, so his brain figures that it could happen again.  So he waits.  I wish I could achieve that effect with "stay" and "off".

It was very traumatic to see him in pain and to worry that he could have caused himself some serious damage.  All's well that ends well, except for DH, whose wallet is still smarting.

Saturday, I spent the entire morning Ozzie Proofing my sewing room.  I swept and tidied and put every single loose item out of his reach.  I may reap some benefit from that activity myself----it sure was nice to sew in an uncluttered and clean room! 

I still have no idea where he got all that black thread.   There were no spools or bobbins to be found anywhere.  My best guess is he stood up and grabbed a string of thread off of my bobbin rack (you know how they unravel and can hang down).  He must have chewed it around until he bit off a long long piece and then got it all wrapped 'round his tongue. Now we could not have done that if we tried for a zillion years.

Hope all of you had a splendid weekend.  I am off to visit Dad for Sunday Dinner, but will be back Monday afternoon with something quilty.

Ozzie's "Incident", and a Cautionary Tale

I have been a couple hours at the emergency veterinary clinic this afternoon.  Ozzie gave me quite a scare.  I had invited him to jump into the car with me for a ride to the post office, and while we were en route, I noticed he was acting like he had something in his mouth.  A very long black thread was trailing out the side of his muzzle.  When I stopped the car, I had a closer look.  I gently pulled on the end of the thread, and Ozzie squealed in pain.  I tried to open his mouth to see what was in there and managed to get a peek at the inside.

He had black thread all knotted and wrapped around his tongue.  His tongue was swollen, the thread  was cutting into him and I could not get it off.  He cried and thrashed and I realized this was too much of a job for me.  So I kept on going right to the nearest veterinary hospital.

They whisked us in immediately, which was wonderful, since we had never even been there before.   The veterinarian was super concerned that he might have swallowed a bobbin!  That is extremely serious, because the thread can wind all around the intestines and cut the blood flow off and even kill a pet.  I was terrified.  Had he gotten a bobbin and swallowed it?  I didn't think so, but you know Ozzie, he is pretty tricky and always into everything.  They did ex-rays which, thank goodness, did not reveal that he had a bobbin in his tummy.  That would have involved a drive to Santa Cruz to a canine specialist to have it fished out, and possibly even surgery!!

They had to sedate him to get his mouth open and to cut out the knotted thread and pull the thread that he had swallowed out of his esophagus.  I finally got him home, but he is all knocked out from the sedation.  Poor fellow.  I just cannot believe the things he can get into.  I don't even know where he got the thread!  I don't have any projects that use black thread, and I didn't think he could get up where I keep my bobbins, where I do have one that holds black thread.

So all my friends out there with pets, watch out for long pieces of thread, attached to a spool or bobbin or not.  The vet told me that cats are even more prone to swallowing it than dogs, and the consequences can be dire.

$300 later, we are home safe and I am just cuddling him in my arms thanking my lucky stars this story didn't have a different ending.

Friday Finish #8, Coventry

It's still Friday, right?  I just finished this by the skin of my teeth, as Grandma used to say.  The main body of the top has been done for a week, but I had to scramble a bit to get all the borders on in time for my deadline.

The pattern is Coventry, from the wonderful book by Brenda Riddle, "Comfort & Joy".  (Brenda has a terrific blog called Little Acorns, but for some reason I am unable to link to anything today).   In the book, the fabric Brenda used was a pretty Christmas group from last year, called Roman Holiday.  I used one layer cake of one of this year's Christmas groups--"Peace On Earth" by 3 Sisters for Moda.  Can you believe I could do this with one layer cake (a pack of 10" squares from the featured collection)?  The stars went together great, and the background I used is Kona White.  I had a bolt of it that I appropriated from my daughter Sara.  The red used in the checkerboard border was a Moda Marbles that I had in my stash.  So, all I had to buy for this entire quilt top was one layer cake at around $30!

The pattern instructions were great, but this was a project where you could not go on automatic pilot while you were sewing.  You had to keep your wits about you and pay careful attention to the width of the three white border strips (three different measurements) and attach them in the correct order.  Also, each of the checkerboard border strips had a certain number of colored squares and white squares.  I spent a lot of time counting and re-counting those squares!

In my opinion, this quilt would be ADORABLE in one of the Mary Englebreit fabric groups, and with a black and white checkerboard border.   If anyone does this, please let me know, I would love to see it!  The beauty of this pattern is how it showcases a fabric group.  In each star, you can see a big swatch of each piece in the collection.  Super cute!

On the weight loss front, I lost two pounds overnight after eating only protein yesterday.  The waistband of my jeans feels much better today.  I don't know if I can stick with this for an entire week, but I aim to try!  Only three more pounds to go. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Fatty Fatty, Two By Four

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How on Earth did this happen?  Well, that is a rhetorical question if there ever was one.  I have been sitting around the house for the past three months sewing and snacking, that is how it happened.  My weight is up five pounds.  What you need to understand, is that my weight is already about 15 pounds heavier than I think is ideal.  I am just on the borderline of being normal (if you squint your eyes).  Five extra pounds on my not-so-tall frame is a LOT.  It SHOWS.  It pushes me over the edge of Almost Normal to Overweight.

My clothes feel tight, I have a spare tire that is hanging over the waist band of my jeans, and in general, things are not looking good people.  In fact, the situation is dire.  I am going to have to do something more drastic than just giving up the Cheez-Its.

I have to leave for Orlando, Florida next Thursday.  It is hot in Orlando.  People wear fewer clothes there.  Women wear SLEEVELESS things.  As if it won't be bad enough that my hair will frizz and double in volume, I will look pudgy and feel uncomfortable.  This is terrible.

Does anyone know how to take five pounds off in a week?  Or ten?  I know it will probably be just temporary and that only long term eating programs are successful, but I am desperate to fit into my clothes and I only have a week!  Boiled eggs and grapefruit?  Cabbage soup?  (Ick).  Nothing but gin and diet tonic?  (Just kidding).

I have been reading a book called The Weight Loss Diaries by Courtney Rubin, a writer who was selected by Shape magazine to participate in a weight loss journey which was chronicled in the magazine, and then turned into a book.  The author was quite overweight at the start of her diet, over 200 pounds.  This girl really liked to eat (junk) and had a history of losing weight, binge eating until it all came back and more, and then going through the cycle all over again.  She is determined to lose the weight and keep it off permanently this time.  She follows a doctor's care and proscribed eating program, which starts out sort of "South-Beachy" and morphs into a Weight Watchers type program by the end of her regime.

The author is rather whiney, and her conflicts with her twin sister are extremely annoying, but her journey from fat to thin is an interesting one.  The main problem I have with her story is that her weight loss takes TWO YEARS.  To lose, what 50 pounds?  It can't take that long, can it?

Added later:

My girlfriend sent me this diet, which is meant for one week only.  I am going to give it a go, then get back onto my Weight Watchers regime at the end of the week!  I will keep you posted!

Protein ONLY
The goal of the protein only phase is to allow your body to start burning fatty tissue.  This process will deplete your body's carbohydrate stores & acts as a natural diretic.  Puts your body in ketosis.  Stay on this for four days.

10 servings per day from the following list of very lean protein for best results:

Chicken or turkey(white meat, no skin)       1 ounce
cornish game hen, no skin

fish, fresh cod, flounder, haddock, halibut,
trout or tuna (canned in water)                     1 ounce

Crab, lobster, scallops or shrimp                   1 ounce

Venison, buffalo, ostrich                                 1 ounce

NONFAT 1% cottage cheese                      1/4 cup
Fat free cheese                                               1 ounce

Hard boiled egg                                             1 egg
Egg whites                                                    2 eggs
Tofu, soft                                                      3 ounces
processed meats(1gm or lessfat per oz)         1 ounce

Drink 10 glasses of water a day.  No coffe if possible unless decaf, calorie free water, crystal light.  NO MILK< JUICE or CREAMERS>

Free selections
Butter buds, salt, pepper, seasoning, spices, fat free broth, white & red vinegar, light rice vinegar, lemon & lime juice.  

IF you can do this, that's basically 10 ounces of food a day, staying on these items only....in one week, you would probally loose 7 to 10 pounds....no cheating.  

After the 4 or 5 days of lean protein, you can add 4 servings  ( 1 cup raw or 1/2 cup cooked) of vegtables like
asparagus, artichoke, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, celery, cucumber, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, peppers, spinach, radish

You can also substitute no more than 2 of those 4 servings you are adding with fruit, like
1 small apple, 1/4 cup blueberries, 12 cherries, 12 grapes, 1/2 grapefruit, 1 small orange 1 small peach, 6 raspberries or 6 strawberries

Do not eat beets, bread, carrots, corn. pasta, potatoes, rice, tomatoes, yams or squash

That's it...

 

Un-Sewing

I am just not concentrating today.  I can't type, I can't follow directions, and I am spending more time un-sewing than I am sewing.  My Coventry quilt is ready for its borders, and while in a day dreaming stupor, I attached the 3 inch borders first, rather than the 2 3/8th inch borders.  So off they had to come.  Now I have all those stupid little threads to pull out.  Some days, I swear I should just go back to bed and start over a couple of hours later.

My mind is a bit distracted, because I have been job hunting.  One company, for whom I really would like to work, has advised me that I am a finalist (sounds like a beauty pageant doesn't it?).  It has taken them eight weeks to come to this decision.  But, that's ok, I need a job, and this would be a great one for me. This morning at 6:10 AM, someone called to verify my birthdate.  That is still ok, but just barely!  I have never had to jump through so many hoops to be considered for employment.  Ack.  I just realized, now they know *how old* I am......  Eeeeew.  I sure hope that won't disqualify me.  Honestly, some things should just be private.

So, I am sitting here at my sewing machine, still in my pajamas, dreaming about being gainfully employed and the fabric I could buy, and making all kinds of silly sewing mistakes.  I hope I have a Friday Finish for this week!  At the rate I am progressing, it is going to be a challenge!

Scraps Give-Away

I just have to share this blurry picture of Ozzie and Remy.  They had been playing tug of war with a tennis ball, both of them hanging on for dear life, when by some silent signal, they both stopped tugging and dropped the ball between them.  After a bit of panting, they were at it again.  They rolled and tumbled for hours on the living room floor at my father's house, oblivious to the dozen people sitting around watching them perform.  My son in law, Ryan, got them to pay attention for a minute.

OK, now for the serious stuff.  The Great Scrap Giveaway!   Since I have so many scraps and also because so many of you seemed to want them, I picked more than one winner.  Ozzie helped me out with the selection, but boy, did I ever have to be quick.  I couldn't face cutting up 144 tiny slips of paper, so I just printed out the sheets and laid them on the floor.  Then I tossed two dog treats onto the papers and wherever they landed, I had my winner.  Ozzie nearly beat me to the dog treats before I had a chance to take a picture, but I prevailed.  Here he is poised for the catch.

My winners are Julia, who I think may be from Germany----

and Linda from Oklahoma----- and Megan from Washington too, since the treat is kind of on both their posts.   Send me your addresses girls and I will send off the scraps!  I will even add in a few things from my stash to make up for you having to share.

In the Thick of Things

I am in the thick of things with the construction of Coventry, that sweet pattern that I am making using the Peace on Earth fabric group.  What did I fail to notice when I launched into the pattern?  The one inch square border!  Not just one, but a double checkerboard border.  Man oh man, I thought I was DONE with this sort of thing after finishing Garden Fence.  Here we go again.

Ozzie was at it all day again today, trying his darndest to get my attention.  At one point, he brought the outside broom into my sewing room and poked me with it.  I couldn't believe my ears when I heard him banging down the hallway to my sewing room.  That broom must have hit the wall two dozen times.  If he marked the paint, my husband is going to kill us.  Yes, he did get my attention with that stunt.  It took me five minutes of chasing him all over the back yard to get the darn broom back.  He looks pretty determined to hang onto it, doesn't he?

After our little romp, he settled down on a pile of fabric and took a bit of a snooze.  Life is never dull with Ozzie around.

I am taking him on a little bye bye in the car to have a playdate with his friend Remy.  That should get some of his energy worked out!  Hope you all had a great weekend.  Look for the fabric scrap drawing on Tuesday.  I may break it into two prizes since so many of you were interested!

Friday Finish #7 Blended Blue Log Cabin

Months ago, Lisa, Perry, Cindy and I did a Blended Quilt Challenge.  The idea was to get inspiration from one of the books from In The Beginning by Sharon Evans Yenter and Nancy Martin that involved a blended fabric technique, where one fabric sort of blends into another, making the over all design indistinct and blurry.  I was toying with a number of ideas at that time, and one of them was from the book Floral Bouquet Quilts by Sharon Evans Yenter from In The Beginning.  I ended up choosing another design for the challenge, but had started these blue log cabin blocks. 

I finished the quilt top this week, and am fairly pleased with the results.  The challenge with this project all lay in the sashing, which had to be fussy cut from a large floral print (the border fabric).  The design had to concentrate a densely patterned part of the print in the areas where the sashing came together.  I made a real hash of it, to tell you the truth, and it found it was a great thing that I had over bought the large print by a number of yards.  The repeat was widely spaced and much fabric was wasted.

Due to the mess I made of things, I ended up having to piece the lattice, as you see above.  I fussy cut little corner stone blocks and inserted them between the berry vine cuts.  The result is roughly what was shown in the pattern, and I am accepting of the end product.

The book, as I mentioned is Floral Bouquet Quilts, and the pattern is called Log Cabin Garden.  The fabric was from my stash, except for the border fabric, which is a lovely print by Alex Anderson for P&B, called Redwork Romance.  I know, I know, it is blue, so go figure.

I need to address the response to my scrap give-away.  To tell you the truth, I am fairly overwhelmed by the response I got, so I closed the comments after twenty four hours and 144 comments.  I want to be sure all of you who say you are interested in inheriting this small portion of my scrap collection fully understand that these are leftover scraps--no very large pieces.  The box I will send is about the size of a 12 bottle wine box (in fact it IS a wine box) and it will indeed be packed with fabric scraps from my recent projects.  These are scraps I have no particular use for and am happy to pass on.  The volume of responses I got makes me think that some of you may be over estimating the prize factor of these scraps.  They are mostly Moda fabrics from recent groups such as Roman Holiday, Peace on Earth, Posh, Old Fashioned Charm and others, but keep in mind, they are a wide assortment of *scraps* (i.e. SMALL PIECES).  Glad to share and all that, but I don't want anyone to be disappointed!  Ozzie will hold a drawing early next week and I will happily send off the scraps to the winner.

Whew, you kind of scared me friends, with your sheer volume, so I wanted to be sure I made full disclosure!  There are a heck of a lot of you out there!  I forget that sometimes in my blathering, and sometimes it takes 144 people to get my attention and realize how public a blog really is!

In friendship and gratitude,

Nicole 

Scraps For Sale.....

In a past life I used to be a pre-school and pre-kindergarten teacher.  My favorite thing to do was to create flannel board stories or dramatic play kits based on my favorite children's literature.  One favorite book of mine ( and of hundreds of my students) was "Caps For Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business" by Esphyr Slobodkina.  Basically, the story is about a guy who sells caps, who falls asleep under a tree full of monkeys.  The monkeys steal all his caps while he is snoozing, and when he wakes up, the peddler has to outsmart the cagey monkeys and get all his caps back.

That little segue leads into my new Blog Give-Away, "Scraps For Sale".  It is a bit of a mis-nomer because no money is involved, and I don't have a gazillion caps to give out, but I do have an overflowing basket of scraps from my recent Friday Finishes.  I have scraps of Roman Holiday, Old Fashioned Charm, Posh, fabric from my blue and white quilt, and tons more.  If you would like to enter a drawing to get all my leftover fabric from these projects, please comment to this blog post, and next week Ozzie will pick a name out of a hat and I will send the winner all these leftover scraps! 

A big ole box of fabric could be comin' your way!  Just let me know if you are interested in participating in the give-away by saying so.  Love ya' all.

Wasting Away in Fabricville

In general, I am not too squeamish about sacrificing a bit of fabric.  I tend to buy a bit more than I need, so if I miss-cut or find that I want extra of something, I am covered.  This project I am working on for my Friday Finish this week is off the chart as far as wasting fabric is concerned.  Do you see how my ruler is positioned?  That is one of nine two and a half in strips I need for a fussy cut lattice.  The fabric to the right of the ruler is what I am wasting to get to the next repeat of what I need.  I started with four and a half yards of this pretty Alex Anderson fabric, and cut it to ribbons.  Here is my scrap pile.

I was very grumpy about all this waste.  As it turned out, I was not thinking creatively enough about the manner in which my fussy cut strips were going to meet up and work with each other, so it was a very good thing I had some extra fabric to play with.  I ended up having to piece the lattice, but at least I was able to achieve the effect I desired.  So, in the end, most of the fabric I squandered was due to my own ineptitude!

Recovering From the Holiday and Getting Back Up To Speed

Hope all of you had a lovely holiday!  Nothing like an all American holiday with great traditional food, and no gift requirements.

We are both a little beat from all the fun we had over the long 4th of July weekend.  Ozzie has been perched on top of his favorite chair all afternoon, and I have been doing a Serious House Tidying.  My husband, son, father, Ozzie and I trekked up to Granite Bay to visit my sister Andrea and her husband.  Once we arrived, we had major issues with Ozzie wanting to chase my brother in law's goats.  Yes, he has four goats, and Ozzie was completely a-tremble to get at them.  I don't believe he intended them any harm, just wanted a good chase through the acerage, but we just couldn't let him loose. 

The goats stayed as far away from Ozzie as they could get, and stared balefully at him while he whined and gurgled and tugged at his leash.  He was obsessed, and nothing could get his mind off those poor goats.  I think he needs more play dates with doggie friends.

istockphoto

On the sewing front, I have been working on a Friday Finish/Two Color quilt using shades of blue and a log cabin design.  The whole thing comes together due to creative cutting of a lattice separating the blocks, so I don't want to reveal too much in advance.  Here are the 32 blocks I finished laid out on the design bed.  No, the lattice isn't going to be pink and yellow, that is just the quilt underneath on the bed.  You have to use your imagination.

The method for making these log cabin blocks was not my favorite.  This method had you sewing your blocks onto long strips of fabric.  The blocks come out approximately square with this technique, which just doesn't cut it with me.  There was also a lot of trimming involved, because you had to separate the blocks from the long strip in each round and then square them up.  It took FOREVER.   I tell you, I was using my Precision Trimmer like mad for about half the blocks, and they were still coming out kind of wonky, so I then just started lopping the strips off with my scissors and it didn't seem to make a bit of difference.  The blocks are all kind of 8 1/2 inches square.

Now, if you want to make a Log Cabin block properly, in my opinion, you have to cut all the logs to size in advance.  I like cutting, so this method suits me fine.  Then you just grab the correct size log and chain stitch away.  No trimming, everything comes out nice and square.  A bit more trouble at the outset and you are saved a lot of tedious fussing later.

I plan to finish this top by Friday, so stay tuned for the reveal.  The lattice involves fussy cutting, so wish me luck!

Friday Finish #6

I felt like I rushed this one a bit, but here it is, delivered on time for a Friday Finish.  Between getting distracted with another quilt project and Ozzie plaguing the life out of me, it was a bit of a crunch to get this one completed!  I am pleased with the way it turned out and think it will be a fun decoration on the back of the couch or a chair during the holidays.  The colors are holidayish, without being too Jingle Bells-HoHoHo if you know what I mean.

The fabric is Roman Holiday by 3 Sisters for Moda.  The pattern is Opening Day by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.  Let me just say that Miss Rosie patterns are accurate, extremely clear in their directions, never deliver any unwelcome surprises, can be used with any fabric collection at all, and never ever fail to thrill me completely when I finish one. 

Lisa and I were supposed to work on this pattern together, but I dilly dallied too long and she finished hers before me.  I am so happy that I got on the ball and got mine done!  Go to her website, Stashmaster and compare hers to mine.  She is much bolder than I am about the use of her lights and darks and isn't afraid to take a risk when it comes to being interesting.  We are the same, but slightly different in an intriguing way.

Flying Geese units were an integral part of this pattern.  I made so many flying geese I lost count.  There are flying geese in the star points and flying geese in the border.  Happy geese, flying every which way.  And I am not kidding you, with this pattern, the instructions are so accurate that you can't go wrong.  Cut carefully, make sure you have your 1/4 inch seem allowance, and you'll be happy as Larry.

As to my canine helper, let me just say he was a total pest while I was trying to finish this.  If I went too long without petting him, tossing the ball, or playing tug, he would snatch some small article up from my sewing room and dash madly out the door, where he KNEW I would follow in hot pursuit.  Here he is with a baggie of border triangles for Meadowbrook Farm.

Nanner nanner nanner, can't catch me.  Very funny.  After awhile he got bored with this game and decided to hang out with me in the sewing room next to me.  He easily found a pile of fabric to rest on and was content for about ten minutes.

That stack of blues is the fabric that distracted me today.  Remember way back in December when some of us were making a Blended Quilt Challenge?  This is one I began and dropped the ball on.  Maybe next week's Friday Finish?

My White Couch

I have had a white couch, that white couch in the photo above, for almost 15 years, by my calculation.  I picked it out myself and was pleased with the elegant touch it gave my living room.  I paid for it on monthly installments, and felt very grown up indeed.  It has a creamy damask slip cover that has covered it for most of those years, but lately the slip cover was showing major signs of wear on the arms.  I have worn a hole on the right armrest where my arm sits for hours every evening.  I am a right side of the couch girl, always have been.  Oh, we have other comfortable chairs I could claim as my own, but that is my spot.  Just there on the left hand side as you look at it.  You can almost see me there, my legs tucked up to the side.  My little lamp table sits right next to me, holding my wine, my book of the moment and whatever other miscellaneous object I set down there.  That is where I read, do the crossword puzzle, do my hand sewing, watch tv, cuddle with Ozzie in the morning with my coffee, and generally hang out at every possible opportunity.

Since we got Ozzie, things have gotten pretty tough for my white couch.  I was taking the old slipcover off so often for laundering, I decided to just leave the darn thing off and enjoy the pristine whiteness of the underneath upholstery.  This summer my white couch has suffered more wear and tear than it got in the past 15 years.  My treasured Ozzie and my pretty white couch are not a great combo.  So, I have been covering said couch with a quilt.  The most recent quilt to protect it is my Pinwheel Quilt.  That one was made from a Crabapple Tree pattern that included embroidery that I left out.  The fabric was given to me by my amazing son Ahren, and is Vienna Nights by Moda.  He bought the fabric and pattern at JJStitches in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin when he was out visiting my sister one Thanksgiving.

Susan at Blackberry Creek posted recently that she plans to make a pinwheel quilt, and I offered her my sympathy.  Making all those pinwheels was a real trial to me, especially in the middle of each block where eight pieces of fabric all come together.  I swore off pinwheel quilts after making this one, but now that I have it out on my white couch, I realize that the effort of making it was totally worth it.  How fresh, how whimsical, how graceful the effect.  I love this quilt and all I associate with it--the pretty fabric group, my patience at finishing it, and the generosity of my son for giving me the fabric.  You go Susan!  Make that pinwheel quilt.  You won't be sorry.

So my friends, back to your favorite place to sit.  Show me where you like to hang out!  I would love to see the spots where you are wearing out your arm rests.  Where do you sit? 

What A Difference A Day Makes

Thanks to the Nancys (Near Philadelphia and In Wisconsin), I got out of my funk regarding Meadowbrook Farm.  Actually, thanks to all of you who encouraged me to starch, press, re-think, finish, send it away, or put it up on a shelf in a brown bag forever.  You were ALL right!  I must admit I was very close to opting for the last suggestion, but gave it one last try.

I got out my Mary Ellen's Best Press and sprayed the blocks like mad.  I steam pressed them with a hot iron, and that alone made them look a hundred times better than the floppy mess they had been to start with.  Those doggone wovens I used not only stretch a lot, but ravel like crazy after all the handling they have been through.  The back of these blocks look like a bird's nest, so I won't be sharing a picture of that!

I had just enough fabric to make a lattice, and it made all the difference!  My idea is to put on a sage green narrow containment border and then add a light print outer border.  The postman should be delivering some border fabric in the next week.  What I ordered was the background print in the first block in the third row.  The finished quilt should be lap sized, and sort of subtle with the light colored low contrast border.  My thought was to have the blocks stand out better that way. No idea where it will go, or how I will have it quilted, but it is indeed on its way to being finished. 

Here is a smidgen of my Web Sampler.  The instructions left out the part about what size to cut the corner triangles, so I have been straining my math challenged brain to figure out the formula for making them.  I vaguely recall that to figure it out you need the divide the diagonal measurement of the block by something, then add on a fraction of something else.  I am a dunderhead at math, but I hope I have other redeeming qualities.

I finally gave up and asked Lisa how to do it, and of course she had a link where everything was explained.

Thank heaven for blogging friends!  You all have chipped in to help me out this week!

Oh!  I meant to share this extremely rare photo of Ozzie being a good boy.  Here he is sitting next to his food dish, waiting for his dinner.

Nothin's Goin' Right

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I had a little too much fun this weekend.  My youngest sister had a graduation party for my nephew Scott on Sunday.  He had just recently graduated from high school, and his family was justifiably proud of his accomplishment.  It was a terrific party.  The place was full of charming young people, both sides of the graduate's family, fabulous food, and lots of wine.  Let me repeat that.  Lots. Of. Wine. 

Imagine my surprise when I woke up the next morning, looked in the mirror and saw that overnight, I had developed Elephant Eye.  This is a shocking condition that involves much puffiness, and extreme amplification of any wrinkles that may already be brewing on one's skin.  It ain't pretty.  Additional symptoms involve dehydrated skin, slight headache, and a very dry mouth.  I have been hiding behind my sunglasses all day, and vowing to consume only mineral water for a good long time.  "Til the weekend anyway.

Moving on, I discovered that the Web Sampler deadline isn't until September 1, so I have a reprieve on that project.  I may just go ahead and finish it anyway, in order to get it off my To Do list.  That project has been stepping on my heels for months now, and I am so ready to be over it.

Allrighty then.  This sorry mess is a pile of my Meadowbrook Farm blocks.  I had them all sewn into rows and found that they fit together badly.  Very badly.  So, ripper in hand, I took the blocks all apart.  Nancy Near Philadelphia has been working on this same pattern, so I have been checking her blog to see how she is getting along with the project.  Imagaine my surprise when I saw her completed quilt top, and saw that there was a lovely lattice separating all the blocks.  Duh, how come I hadn't noticed that in the pattern?  Why don't I pay closer attention to instructions?  Well my confusion was justified for once, because it turns out that when Nancy was putting her top together, she found that she didn't care for the poor way the blocks were fitting together, and got the bright idea to add a lattice.  Brilliant woman that she is, she now has a very nice quilt top.

Do you ever put in so much work on a project, then discover that it is a total mess, and want to put it away forever?  That is how I am feeling about Meadowbrook Farm.  All those wovens I used are all wiggly and wobbly, and I am just not feeling the love for this fabric anymore.  It is worth it to plug on and fix it?  Try a new setting like Nancy did, and just get it done?  Sigh.  I dunno.

I will end this sorry post with something that IS going right, and that would be my Coventry Stars.  I am using the Peace on Earth fabric by Moda, which has to be one of the prettiest groups in a long time.   That little raspberry print is adorable.

Web Sampler Nears the Finish

Woo Hoo!  My Web Sampler project has a deadline of this Tuesday, July 1, and I am nearing the finish.  At least I think the deadline is this Tuesday.  Ahem, that would be TOMORROW, wouldn't it?  Nobody has been talking much about this project we started together quite awhile back, so I just thought I would bring up the topic.  Helllllll-ooooooo?

This project has been harder to get through than some others.  I don't know if it is due to the rather somber color palette, or if I just haven't been in the mood for the Civil War reproduction fabrics, but I have started up and put away this quilt project quite a number of times since Perry, Cindy, Carol, Lisa, Beth and I started it.

Part of the problem has been the lousy block instructions, which seem brilliantly written now that I can compare them to the setting instructions.  But, I mustn't complain.   Somehow I managed to figure it out, mainly due to having a picture.  Lucky for me because the written directions were incomprehensible.  A picture is worth a thousand words and all that.  Wouldn't it have been easy to just say "Cut six 3 1/2 inch strips"?  Seriously, I have to give you an example of what I am talking about.  These are the directions for cutting the beige background border triangles:

"From the remaining fabric, cut or tear two 3 1/2 inch strips.  Place wrong sides together.  Cut 12 Background border triangles as we did for the red and black border triangles.  Cut two more strips and cut four more triangles.  You should now have 96 beige background triangles."

Huh?  I must have missed something rather major, because I don't see how that could get anyone 96 triangles.  Tear fabric?  I don't think so.  I have a feeling my error was in not wanting to tear strips the length of the fabric, which could have given the proper results, but never mind.  Who cares?  The instructions seemed bass ackwards to me.

OK, big deep breath.   I'm fine, really.  I know the finished result will be great, and it will be really fun to see the different setting options each one of us chose.  Big cheesy smile here girls.  I have no idea who this kid is, but he is expressing how I feel.

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The blocks are taking up real estate on the design bed, and will get sewn together today.  This past weekend I worked on the pieced border, which is all triangles.  They were all cut with the straight of grain on the long edge, which curtails some of the stretch you get when that long edge is cut on the bias.  I actually don't mind the bias edge because I think it gives me some "wiggle room" when I am attempting to make the border line up with the quilt top.  I am keeping my fingers crossed on this one!

I have almost finished the red borders, but still have the black ones to do.  This is mindless piecing if I ever did any.

So girls, how about an update on everyone's progress? 

Friday Finish #5

 

Mom discouraged bragging in our house when I was growing up, but I know she would give me some slack if I pat myself on the back for finishing this quilt top.  I have been struggling to get this done for more than two years!  The first challenge was the appliqued circles.  I am not skilled at hand applique, and have also had my issues with some machine applique techniques.  That whole starch thing was the biggest mess when I tried it!  Finally I figured out (with the help of many people's advice) how to do raw edge fusible machine applique, using a blanket stitch.  I was sure happy when the circles were done and had come out---well, circular.

Then I put the project away.  Don't get me wrong, I really liked it and sincerely wanted to finish it.  But that pieced checkerboard lattice around not only each block, but as an inner border as well?  I wasn't sure I was up for it.  Every few months I would go back to the project box however, take out the applique squares I was so pleased with, and tell myself I just had to finish it someday.

This summer was the time, and Friday, June 27 is the day!

The pattern is called Garden Fence from a book called Hearth and Home Quilts by Joanna Figueroa and Lisa Quan.  If you don't recognize their names, they are the Fig Tree designers.  I didn't purchase a single piece of fabric for this quilt top.  It was all scraps from my stash.

I really like this one and think it will look great in the family room with my Blended Neutrals quilt.  Some times you just have to stick to it and get it done.

Pet Peeve

 

I don't have anything super interesting to blog about today, so I will tell you about one of my pet peeves.

Back in April I had a job interview and really wanted to look modern and polished and professional--you know "office worthy".  Dress for the position you want, they say.  So, Macy's was having this big old clearance sale and in the suit department I found this fantastic three piece suit (jacket, pants, blouse).  It had been marked down a ton of times from over $300 down to $79.  Seriously. The pants were gigantic on me, but that jacket....it fit like it had been personaly tailored just for me.  Not being one to pass up a bargain that has karmic implications, I bought it and took it home where it has been hanging in the closet for what, eleven weeks? 

On my birthday my husband told me we were going out to a swanky place for dinner to celebrate.  After trying on half the clothes in my closet, trying to find the most appropriate outfit, I began to believe I had nothing to wear.  You have all been there.  Clothes piled up all around you, closet formerly packed to the gills now reduced to empty swinging hangers, and you can't find anything you want to put on.  Then, the lightening bulb went off!

The Suit, still in its plastic garment bag was there waiting for me!  Gleefully, I ripped off the plastic and put the jacket on over some black pants I already owned that fit me nicely.  I looked fantastic.  Exactly the look I was going for.  Now, running late, I finished my makeup, pulled on the perfect little black heels and changed purses.  As I was going out the door, I turned for one last admiring look in the full length mirror.  I turned to see the back of me and this is what I saw.

Luckily I still have the tags, but who knows where the receipt went?  Now I get to go back to Macy's, setting off the security alarms as I go through the door and try to explain this.  Grrrrrr.  Wish me luck.

Generosity

I have to be one of the most fortunate people in Blogland.  Through blogging over the past year and a half, I have made some truly fabulous friends all over the world.  Imagine my astonishment when I opened my front door and discovered this package that had traveled all the way from Australia!  My friend Mary Wood had sent me this exquisite hand knitted baby shawl she had made for me to tuck away for my first grand child.  Those of you who know me a little have heard of my great desire to be a grandma some day.  I try not to say too much on the subject so I don't drive my kids crazy, but sometimes it slips out.  I know it will happen eventually, but patience is hard for me in this area!  I was touched more than I can say by Mary's understanding gesture.

I am completely blown away by both Mary's amazing hand work and her generosity.  The Cambridge dictionary defines generosity as "the willingness to give help or kindness, especially more than is usual or expected".  That description fits Mary to a T.  What a stunning and unexpected gift.

And if that wasn't enough, she also included in the box a cross stitched table cloth that looks as if it might be vintage.  Look at the detail of the hand work!

It is proudly displayed on my table, and I can't wait for my husband to come home from work and see it.

Thank you so much Mary.  I appreciate this more than I can adequately express.