Eye Spy Two

Worked on UFO #8 for Judy's drawing for March today. Here is the flimsy for Eye Spy Two. I really like this simple pattern. I have lots more squares but was trying not to get any duplicates (hmmm see the monkeys twice?) but that is fine I am not ripping! I have a bin with more squares this size though duplicates, 3 1/2 inch size squares and some hexagons I have been piling up. If I have time this month I may go for more flimsies, but if not I am going to try to get this one tied up for a future baby so I can cross number 8 off my list!

Spent much of my day working on the math workshop Christine and I are giving this month. It seems like the more we do..the more there is to do! We made great progress today and I feel good about where we are, but I am missing my sewing time!

Late Night Pink Love

SoScrappy Angela has deemed it Pink month, so here is the first Jack in the Box in pink! Have ironed the little pinwheels but didn't trim or make them and have block two cut out and ready to go.
Also whipped up a few pink bow ties just for fun!
Here is our new kitty--Lucy/Stitch! She is finally coming out more and likes to dump everything in my sewing room on the floor.
She found her own little quilt to lay on where the dogs can't bother her :)
We spent today at the Deaf Expo in town...was a long day out but we saw lots of friends and had a nice day gabbing. Several of my sign students went as their "Deaf Event" that they have to write a paper on so that was fun. I really have some great students. All but one left before the 3:30 drawing so they gave us their tickets...and one of them was the golden ticket. DJ and I won 200 DOLLARS! I couldn't believe it...really was an awesome way to end the Expo. Then while walking to the light rail two gals driving a Red Bull shaped car stopped at the light..one got out and ran DJ and I Red Bull..I do not drink it but she does so that made her day even better.

We wound up spending the rest of the day with her grandfather in the ER...but he is okay now and happily back at home. So I snuck in this sewing and hope to get back to it tomorrow late afternoon...there is always so much to do and not enough time to do it in. I did manage to finally finish reading "Coop" by Michael Perry (who I have met and who grew up in the town by my grandparents' cottage and now lives about 10 minutes from my hometown) which was great. He is funny even though sometimes he makes me cry.

Weekend Sewing :)

Made a doggie bed cover yesterday. Nothing fancy but it serves the purpose. Kathy came over and I putzed around a lot, cutting up bow ties and pieces for future jack in the box blocks. I actually went through all of my drawers and tried to cut from them and did some strips and re-color coordinated it all. I can't wait til all my fabric is on the shelves or in strip form in the drawers, but I made progress.
Kathy added the sides to all of her NYE blocks and did one with the top and the bottom. We also all went out for sushi and a trip to the fabric store for her backing. This is what she picked.
The one below DJ fell in love with so almost four yards of it hit her stash. Oy vei, I have created a monster! I told her she needs to sew more and put fabric in the cart less, haha!
I got a yard of this fabric on clearance. I liked it and the price was right. I also got a Civil War quilts book.
And too funny but I read this gal's blog so when I saw the pattern I decided I had to support her (had to!) and I really do like this pattern. Then today when I was organizing my pictures I saw where I had saved her picture of this quilt as a "want to make someday" quilt. I am thinking about doing it in my Denyse Schmidt fabrics.
Today I quilted and bound my Schnibbles I.S.T.H. quilt. This is the backing..two leftover Christmas birds fabrics.
And here is the front. Love, love, love it. Way more than I thought I would. It really appeals to me for some reason. Too bad--it will be a gift for someone next Christmas. (I am really doing well at putting stuff away this year early...love blogland!)
Then I decided to play with some of my cheddar bow ties! This first one is a Barn Raising layout.
What I have been doing is Straight Furrows. This is what is in the inspiration quilt I think..so that is what I was doing.
This is Zig Zag.
This picture is sideways, but if I added some solid squares to it, it would be On Point.
This is the Magic Circle.
And this is Half Dropped Rows.
And here is how they have been multiplying on my design wall! I need to decide it I will just keep putting blocks together as I have been or if I want to do some combination of all the choices.
By the way, I have an article that I saved out of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine from July-Aug. of 1995 that shows these and other Bow Tie "Great American Quilt Classics". Sure would be fun if they would pick up Bonnie's Cheddary Challenge story and do an article with all these Cheddar Choices! Really fun!

President's Day Sewing

Finished up "Bull's Island" that Ros borrowed me...actually really like this one though the ending was a bit neat and tidy. I made more bow ties, but didn't photograph them yet. I also cut a bunch more since I was in a cutting mood which is rare!
I whipped up those pinwheels I have been meaning to make...found some extra yellow hst's and added them to the mix since I was puttering. This quilt is going be so colorful, I love it already! (Jack in the Box).

Here is the backing for the NYE wedding gift that is now in my car for Ros to quilt. I also did some organizing and cutting of more tissue holders, made one more too.

Am in a crabby, stressed out mood so I am going to find a good book and go read myself to sleep. Tomorrow might be a better day.

Some Outdoor Pictures of What I Have Been Up To Lately...

DJ's pillow Valentine is done! This is from the smallquilttalk yahoo group challenge for this month. Done!
The I.S.T.H. Schnibbles top is ready for some quilting.
Auntie's Anvil is also ready for quilting. Do we see a theme here?
And all three of the January smallquilttalk challenge tops are also ready to be quilted. Man I have some basting to do soon!
And here is my NYE mystery from Ann B. Smith for this year. I pieced the backing today but didn't have time to get it ironed for the photo before Christine came over to work on our Math Sign Workshop. It is coming together well! DJ is still out of town til tomorrow...so I am cooking burgers and prepping for teaching this afternoon...but may make it back to the quilting studio before it is all said and done. Tomorrow is a holiday from the college, so I picked up hours over at my video relay job. My day will be short though and I may get in some sewing!

Saturday Schnibbles and More Sewing :)

Decided to start my I.S.T.H February Schnibbles today. I started out with this first block but decided to use my Thangles to do the hst's and went with the wrong size. So I have one 8.5 inch orphan block. Then realized that I could use hst's that I already had in my leftover bucket...so changed it all up to this:

Looks a little more Christmassy than I had planned, but hey a good gift it will make!

So I went with it and here is my smaller version of I.S.T.H. (Insert Snappy Title Here).

Then I whipped up my second green Jack in the Box block for SoScrappy Saturday! Lovin it!
Here are all four together. I pressed the bonus triangles (Amy, lol) but didn't make them into pinwheels yet. Gotta get on it before I wind up a zillion extra hst's. I stole some of the one's I had from this project to put in my Schnibbles, but there are more where they came from!
I also went with simple purple borders for the NYE Mystery that has been waiting for some work. Kathy came over for a bit today and advised purple from the choices we had. It looks good!

Will get a better picture out in the sun tomorrow. That's it,,,now Randy, CJ and I are going to see "The Awakening" that they want to see. DJ is out at the Sand Dunes riding a quad. Tomorrow hope to get in some sewing, but working with a colleague on a Math Signs Workshop we are giving in March (eek!) and I need to prep some teaching stuff too! Weekends go too fast!

DJ's Valentine's Day Gifts--so far!

After organizing all my tax information and some stuff for CJ...I watched two hours of "Once Upon a Time" which I really like...such clever writers...I stitched away on the center heart for this little wall hanging. Then when it was over I snuck up and stitched away the rest of the top. DJ likes it! She says I should make it a pillow for her though instead of a wallhanging.

This little Venus Fly Trap is her other gift. She really wanted it so we ordered it from Amazon (got one for CJ too) and after transplanting it this is how it looks...just a few days and already babies are growing! Can't wait to find a fly or something to feed it!

Lucy kitty is settling in well with the dogs. She is feisty and they are learning to leave her alone. We think we may start calling her Lucy Stitch...with Stitch for short. Coleman thought we should go with Stitch for Lilo and Stitch and I like it because of all the stitching I do! Hopefully she becomes a quilting studio kitty and the name will suit her. Well, off to bed, I work in the morning.