Second Post of the Night (Of course that just means that I forgot something earlier.)

I forgot something in my last post.

I have a picture of the flowers that the gals from the Norwalk club sent me for my birthday Monday. When the guy delivered them, he said he had a birthday cake for me, but that it was non-caloric. It was a flower cake! How cute is that?!?

What the *%#@^!?

Sometimes you are so busy sewing away that you have no idea what is happening on the other side of your machine. That was the case this past weekend while I was at the guild retreat.

I was chain-piecing my blocks when Karen and Kare started laughing and pointing at me. Of course, I assumed that I had food on my face or drool running down my chin so I quickly started to wipe my face and ask what was going on. They both were laughing so hard that they couldn't say anything, so they just pointed to my thread. The thread was dangling and bobbing all over the place while I was sewing! It really was funny and we all laughed pretty hard. As I'm typing, I realize that perhaps most people wouldn't find this to be so funny so maybe we were really tired or in a food-induced stupor! I guess that there is no question now as to the fact that it doesn't take much to entertain us.

Speaking of the retreat. We had a really good time and even though I wasn't able to stay the entire time both days, I got a lot done. I always find it interesting how 18 people can be using the same pattern, but end up with such different looking quilts. Check out the Milan Quilt Builders blog on the sidebar to see a slideshow of the quilts. (Thanks Kare for doing such a great job with the guild's blog!)

I promised one of our guild members that I would update my blog more frequently, so I will work on that. Maybe that should be what I do for Lent, rather than give up something!

I've got to get busy on some of the UFOs that I have, but they might have to wait until I complete two T-shirt quilts. I just received a box of T-shirts from a woman who had seen a quilt I made for one of her co-workers. We spoke on the phone a couple of weeks ago and she said she was going to get some shirts together for me. Well, they arrived today so now I have to work on those. I want to finish piecing the raffle quilt so I can get it quilted and begin selling the tickets. I also want to work on the guild mystery quilt and its BOM. I have three quilts ready to quilt, but I never seem to have the time to layer them and get them under the machine. I forgot that I also have some embroidery that needs done on a couple of casket scarves and some woven blankets. YIKES.....I have my wok cut out for me. Maybe I should cut back on my sleeping or better yet, work. What do you think?

More tomorrow (or the next day), including pictures!

I See Green and Brown

It is amazing, but I see colors outside! It is 51 degrees, the snow is melting and there are patches of green and brown appearing around the yard. YEAH!!!!



If you look closely at the second picture, you will see that the animals are enjoying an afternoon in the yard as well. Do you see the possum?

I know it is early to be thinking that there won't be anymore snow, but it sure is nice to have warm temperatures and see green.

As you can see, my camera is working, but it's only because I have a new disc in. I am resigning myself to the fact that I have lost all of the pictures on the other disc. :( I guess that will teach me to take them off the camera sooner.

I have added a couple of blogs to my list. Check them out! The knittingbrow is my brother's blog and his Jan. 31st video is showing some of the family calendars we've made over the years. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Jerry!

Jack and I are off to visit my sister Ann and her family. Mom is staying with them, but will be returning to Dayton soon. We'll be taking Quinn with us and I know we'll have a great tme. I'm also pretty sure that the trip is a "Photo Op" waiting to happen!

Camera Disaster

I sat down to transfer pictures from my camera to the computer and received a message that said "Clean the contact area of the disc with a dry cloth." I did as asked, reinserted the card and immediately received the same message. Of course, the other alternative is to re-format the disc. That of course is not really an option, as I have pictures from this past weekend's retreat and pictures I took tonight of Quinn. The pictures were so perfect. She was standing next to the stairs, holding on with one hand and laughing. The next picture is of her standing by herself, right before she took TWO STEPS!!! Well, I'm sending an e-mail to Olympus to see what they suggest I do. I sure hope there is some way to print those pictures. I tried hooking the camera up to the computer, but it hasn't worked. I'm so bummed!

On a happier note, the retreat was really fun and productive. Even though I didn't complete my normal number of projects, I did get a lot accomplished. I began work on the 2009 raffle quilt (Bonnie Hunter's Double Delight - with her approval) and that has a lot of small pieces. I have completed most of the square in a square units (I need to do 12 more I think) and all of the mini 9 patches are done. I needed to wait for the remaining square in a square pieces because I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the borders. I didn't want to cut into the rest of the fabric until I decided because that would mean that I would have to piece the borders; and I don't like doing that. Anyway, I also stated sewing the blocks together and I have one corner done. Today I decided how I am going to finish the quilt. I want to make a pieced border that I saw on another quilt. I have to e-mail that designer and make sure she doesn't have any objections to me using her border. I don't think it will be a problem because she has a ton of free patterns on her sight and this border is on one of those projects.

I also worked on a Patriotic UFO and have it all done except two borders. I decided to add pieced cornerstones and I need to resize and finish those ASAP. I really like the look of the quilt and wonder why it got put away in the first place.

Of course all of my retreat pictures are on my camera, so I don't have an to show you. Oh well.

Until next time.....

Staying Busy Continued...

Well, I guess when you don't post too often, it is easy to hit the wrong button and publish a post instead of going back and adding more after uploading a picture. Making an entirely new post seems easier than editing the last one so that is what I'm going to do. Besides, this way it seems like I've posted twice today and maybe no one will remember that I often go seven weeks without posting! Below is a picture of the Jacob's Ladder blocks that I made for a swap. The blocks finish 12" and are black background and batiks. I made 3 sets of 6 each and I'm actually ahead of the time to get them done. I will put them in the mail Tuesday and they didn't have to be done until the end of February. YEAH!!!
I am trying to decide what I am taking on retreat at the end of this month. I always take too much, but I'd rather have too much than not enough. I'm sure that I will find something that just calls my name while I'm there too, but you never know. We will be in Holmes County, staying in a condo. I love being there in the January because it is usually cold and snowy and I always get a lot done. My best friend Kare is going with us this year. She's a "virgin retreater" but I have no doubt that she will fit right in. We sew, laugh, shop, eat, sew some more and always have a wonderful time. I'll try to remember to take my camera and forward some pictures.

I took a break from organizing my stash and trying to decide what fabric I will use for my guild's retreat mystery next month. I'm finding out that I have been busting a lot of blue and "background" stash. I only have four or five pieces of blue in the tub and not much more of the light "backgrounds." Do you think that is reason to shop while I'm on retreat in a couple of weeks? :) Oh well, I better get back to work or I'll find some excuse to stop.

Staying Busy

As promised, I'm posting a couple of pictures of projects that were done for Christmas gifts, orders, etc. The little fish wallhanging is a variation of the pattern Gone Fishing by MH Designs. I have done the original a couple of different times, but wanted this wallhanging to be a bit smaller. The original has a fishing pole added to the right side. It is quite cute and easy to paper piece together.

The tote bags below are just 4 of the 18 that I made. They are easy to make and are a combination of lots of features that I like from various bags that I have seen.

I also helped a friend make 4 quilts for Christmas. She did most of the piecing on 3 of them, but I did the last one because of time restraints. I quilted all of them and added the bindings as well. They were simple patterns (2 of them are a square in a square, 1 is a 9 patch soduko and the last is a 16 patch soduko), but they were all fun to make.

I've Finally Done It

Yep, I'm updating my blog for the first time in over 7 weeks! Actually, I'm just letting you all know that I'm still around and that I know I am a slacker. This post is going to be VERY short because I have to get the guild information out to everyone today and try to get an accurate grocery shopping list together so I don't have to make umpteen trips to the store for all of the items I forgot.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that the new year is shaping up to be a good one for you. I was going to make a resolution that was something like this: " I resolve to update my blog at least once a week, if not more in 2009," I knew that would only be setting myself up for failure so I didn't do it. How's this for a resolution: "I'll try to post weekly and not beat myself up if I don't do it"? I like the second resolution best!

Anyway, I have some pictures I'll share in my next post that include some of the projects that I made for Christmas, what I am working on now, and the projects that I want to start soon. Be on the lookout for that post sometime in the next ??????? or so.