Saturday and Some of Sunday Sewing!

 Here is the first block of the Patriotic BOM from 35th Ave.  All done for January!

 I was also super excited to get my Allietare shirt and magnet!  Later on I will order the pin and maybe a travel coffee mug.  They were not ready when I placed this order and I didn't want to wait.  They sent me a coupon so it is all good.  If you want any of the products that ForestJane puts together for Quiltville (profits go to purchasing sewing things for charity sews) go to Zazzle.com and search "Forestjane" and all should come up!  Of course on the back of my shirt is my usual proclamation!

 I worked quite awhile on the Nimble Thimbles mystery last night.  I had to do some unsewing and to take my time a bit to get the points to line up decently.  I used the 20 dollar chevron ruler I bought from Quiltz last shop hop to make the chevrons. I gotta say I LOVE it.  The units were great and it did not take me too long to figure out how to use it to get the best results!

I am still in Weight Watchers and am still exercising daily.  I have been staying about the same weight for the past 5 months.  It is not for lack of trying, but between the stress of my life, the medication changes (for the chronic migraines) and the migraines themselves I am happy I have not just gained or given up!  I would really like to get to 105 down this week so am working extra hard.  This morning (54 degrees when we started and 49 when we finished) Kathy and I headed out to hike.  It is only her second hike since her knee replacement surgery eight weeks ago so after a few minutes we split up. I headed all the way down into the mountain and then up and out on the Ridgeline.  This is a challenging hike for me but I am getting faster at it and am happy to listen to some tunes and get my steps in!

 I was happy to have this jacket Becky passed on to me, I think it is the first time I have hiked and kept my jacket on the entire time!  It was chilly.

 After a hot shower I got to finishing up the clue for the Nimble Thimbles mystery.  I am about out of the dimples in the shade I started with, but had another shade which was super close.  So I added it in and unless I look super closely you really cannot tell.

 And all the parts waiting on the next clue.

 Amy (of Amy's Passions) has completed her last block for our swap!  She is sending me the blocks above and I am sending her half the blocks from below. Gonna be a fun quilt when it is done!

Since this was our RSC this past year I am linking up with Angela over at SoSrcappy and next up I hope to work on the blue blocks from the sampler chain I am still working on!

Arizona Sunshine goes to Minnesota!

Here is my Uncle Jim (my Dad's brother) in Minnesota.  I sent him some Arizona Sunshine in the form of a "Flock of Triangles" quilt this week and he like it.  I made this quilt two summers ago and couldn't part with it...sometimes the right person or reason comes along and then my heart just tells me where it needs to go.  My Uncle is going through some health stuff and we are praying for his speedy recovery and all of the sudden I knew this sunshine quilt needed to go to him!  All that worked out well since I finally got the "Mourning Crosses" memory quilts sent off to him, Margie and well my sister's is still in my car!  His is backed with camping fabric because we went to Canada--the Boundary Waters with him and my Dad and my cousins several times as kids.  I should try to find those pictures and scan them in.  The four of us girls (Me, Carla, Tina and Tricia by age)  always had so much fun and have so many memories of those days with our Dad's.  My cousin Brian didn't come along until later so I never got to go with him...now he is all grown up with two daughters of his own!

 Bonnie motivated me (on webcam) so I did get the backings done for two quilts (CJ's and a Schnibble from two months ago) and Kathy helped me cut the Bread and Butter "Jelly Stars" mini that I bought at the quilt show...two years ago I think it is now.  I did some pinning...

Then I sewed up these four blocks for it.  I started on the stars, but we had a tiny cutting error that affects each star so I may need to do some recutting.  Oh well, won't be the last time I am sure.  At least it saw some progress!  

Both Kathy and I are incredibly tired tonight so it is time to climb into bed and watch TV for a bit.  So glad I don't work til 10:30 tomorrow.  I didn't get enough sleep last night, that is for sure.  

Flock of Triangles is Bound :)

I got a little crazy the other day and ordered some new daily dishes and a salad bowl set! Here is a picture (borrowed from QVC) that shows the style and colors I picked. Confetti, lol was the color and I just couldn't resist it. June has these dishes and gave me four mugs when I fell in love with them last year. So now I will have a set of eight dishes. I am really excited becasue the "dessert" plates are 8 inches and I plan to use them for my new dinner plate...supposedly this helps you eat less!

I also went to my very first Pilates class today. A friend of mine from work (Amanda T.) talked me into it and it was fun. She is really encouraging and I think I am going to go once a week to start with and see if it clicks with me. The teacher seemed great and the price is right so...time to amp it up. LOL, as if!

I put a scrappy binding on the Denyse Schmidt Flock of Triangles quilt and a label too. Finally took some pictures of it today. This one is going ot be in an art show if all goes as planned. I am pretty excited because I have always wanted to enter a quilt into the fair or a show and just never do. Ros of course did the quilting...leaves all over this kind of makes it feel fallish though the colors are summery!

And as promised, better pictures of my new bowl. I am a nut, I know!

Look so cool if you ask me!

And Flock of Triangles from another angle. I am so tickled with this quilt. When I was making it I was planning to give it away but now I am kind of attached to it! I also haven't heard from my cousin if she got the quilt I sent out last week...hoping it gets to her soon!

Well off to work on my Outside the Box quilt because I need to get the top together for the show. Hope there is plenty of sewing in your weekend too!

Some Progress on Bindings and Such

Only have one picture to prove it, but I made bindings and attached them and have about half this first one hand sewed down. This is the Rural Jardin binding that matches the quilt.
I also did a scrappy binding for the yellow Flock of Trianges quilt and a scrappy binding for the Civil War Puddle Jumping Mystery Quilt.
The only other sewing that happened was that I finally finished up my Quilt History exchange blocks (15 total) for the December exchange. Rather happy to have that behind me.
I am pretty sure I am only going to do one more Amy's Passions block so that I can make one more quilt instead of two. I just am too frustrated for the small pieces in the blocks. I can do them if I do it as in Bonnie's mysteries where she tells you the size of the mini block. I can adjust so things come out right. However, when doing one random block I just can't always manage it. The last four I have just look hard to me. I have enjoyed the challenge up til now but just know I will get frustrated if I keep on.
I have been reading "Lonesome Dove" for my online bookgroup (BookiesToo) and am really enjoying the story. I also picked up the miniseries that Hallmark made of it and have watched a good bit of it but prefer to read the end before seeing it so am trying to hold off on the end!

Flock of Triangles is Quilted!

I made and handsewed labels on the quilt for Megan's baby (and gave it to her) and on my Joy Luck Schnibbles quilt two days ago.

Ros has been busy quilting away and has completed my Flock of Triangles quilt from Denyse Schmidt's book. I am not sure I can give this one away now!

The back shows the quilting really well. I need to whip up a binding for this one...should I go with a solid yellow, scrappy or white do you think?

I also spent some time searching the web trying to come up with good ideas for Christmas gifts to make. I have nine boys (all but one under age 8 or so) on Kathy's side alone...ideas I found included checkerboard (not all are old enough to play and can't do a board for each as that would be silly), shooting target (not a big fan of guns so I hate to encourage that), lunch bags (would boys really get into that?), beanbags (kind of boring, but okay), or PJ pants (could be fun with the right fabric). I may make a school colors pillow for the fourteen year old. I already made two pillowcases for two of the boys. In the past I have made quilts, bags filled with fun stuff, etc. I would love to hear from people with good, simple, inexpensive ideas! I bought a PJ pattern today so I know I will be making some for someone..plenty of kids on my list besides these boys, but trying to get ahead.

Walk in the Park and a Flock of Triangles

Last night I finished up my Denyse Schmidt Flock of Triangles quilt top! I improved my bias sewing as I went (and used my trusty pins more) and I am loving how it turned out! It is quilt number 110 (I number them all now) but the next quilt was one of my UFO's...some of you readers may remember this quilt, number 53, which I started in Wisconsin years ago and never finished due to the applique. Almost a year ago I asked my readers to vote on which UFO I should complete by this July and this one won the vote. (Ironically I finished one of the other ones before this one, and have only one UFO to go!) So I cheated but it is done...I pieced the top together without appliquing it (I tried about four times to applique it and ripped out every time dissatisfied) and begged Ros to quilt it the best she could.

Ros did a great job going around the applique pieces and then quilted a pretty flower pattern elsewhere. So my Quilter's Home Walk in the Park quilt is done! Sorry it took me so long Mark! I love it!
I have also been knitting...I am still a beginner at this but after watching my DVD and some awesome stuff online I finished this dishrag that Becky helped me start. It is a bit asymetrical, but it will work to wash my dishes.

Next I did another in the same colors and it is better. So yesterday I worked on one in the yellow, orange and white and am even happier with that one. I then started a scrubbie and after some ripping out and restarting it is taking shape! Becky told me to check out knittinghelp.com and it has a ton of good stuff...and I found a link to a step by step sock tutorial, so I may just try that next!

Flock of Triangles, Quiltalong and Betsy

I wanted you to see how well my Betsy Schnibbles matches my bedroom! We got it hung up above the bed along with some dark colored curtains to keep out the Arizona summer sun!

The bed could be made a little neater, but I wouldn't want to shock anyone since most of the time it isn't even made anymore. (shh, don't tell!)

Today I sewed for several peaceful hours while listening to "The Lightning Thief" was a fabulous day! I went ahead and did my quiltalong blocks with yellow since I was in the yellow for the flock of triangles quilt. Aren't they cheery looking?

Added several more rows to my flock of triangles quilt and you can see Jade kitty was on it before the third picture was snapped (and Rosie too but I chased her off for this photo). I ran out of white fabric so I need to run and get some more so I can finish this one up. Not sure how many more rows I will do, just gonna play it by ear or until I run out of the triangles I have cut up!
Back to work tomorrow...sure was a fun five days of no work!

Tagalong is Quilted and Flock of Triangles in Progress!

Ros has been busy quilting for me again :) This is Tagalong Schnibbles...turned out great!

And guess what I started working on? A Flock of Triangles from Denyse Schmidt's book. I am having fun making this one except that it is tough putting the rows together because of the stretching from the bias. I like it anyway and hopefully am getting better at not stretching it!

I added an extra set of triangles to the width of the pattern and am not sure how long it will wind up but hoping for a good lap size. Other than that, not a whole lot of sewing going on lately!